Khan: It’s not about disrespect, it’s about entitlement

By Boxing News - 02/22/2014 - Comments

khan24523By Hector Gonzalez: I’ve been reading a lot of comments regarding Floyd Mayweather Jr. blowing off Khan as a potential opponent for Money May’s next fight on Cinco De Mayo. This article is a response to the comments made by both Khan and some fans claiming that Mayweather was disrespectful towards Khan for leading him on. This is an opinion from a fan with admiration for the sport; truth be told, the issue is not about disrespect as much as it about a sense of entitlement in Khan’s part.

The real disrespect to the fans would have been for a fighter such as Amir Khan who has never even fought at 147, doesn’t even hold the WBC or WBA belt be allowed to share the same ring with Mayweather… that right there would be disrespect.

With all due respect, Khan’s emotional outburst have more to do with a sense of entitlement than they due about sharing the ring with the pound for pound best fighter in the world, quite frankly, Khan has not even come close to earning the fight.

Here’s my take from an outsiders point of view. Amir Khan is a class C fighter whose hype is mostly based on fighters he was suppose to look good against. The minute he faced actual adversity it was realized that he wasn’t at the level he was made out out to be. This goes back to Willie Lamont, whom after the fight it was speculated that Amir Khan didn’t have the chin to hold up against top fighters. The speculation was realized against Breidis Prescott. Many fans point out that only his chin is the problem and therefore he doesn’t really have any other issues…. Not true… I understand that Lamont Peterson had high levels of testosterone in his system when he fought Amir Khan, but Peterson was able to beat Khan using a ‘Phone Booth’ style of fighting, which means that Khan doesn’t move as well as people give him credit for.

So the question is, why does a fighter who has lost 2 of his 4 fights, mind you, his 2 loses were actual championship fights, get a shot at the pound for pound king. Again as a fan and an outsider, it sounds like it’s an entitlement issue…

Lets think about the Devon Alexander situation for a minute. Speculation has it that Khan vs Alexander never happened because Khan wanted the fight to be in the UK and Alexander refused…. Excuse me! Alexander was the IBF World Champion, Amir Khan didn’t even have any belt. Again, entitlement… You have to earn the belt, you have to earn the right. This reminds me of when Khan was trying to call out Juan Manuel Marquez. Juan Manuel Marquez agreed to fight Amir Khan while Marquez was campaigning at 135. Khan was trying to force Marquez to move to 140 to fight him, when Marquez refused Khan went on record saying that “Marquez was dodging him”, as if he Khan was the future Hall of Famer and not the other way around.

Again this is only speculation from an outsiders point of view, but here are my thoughts. Golden Boy Promotions had high hopes for Amir Khan, the key word is ‘had’. He looked bad in his last four fights and there was a high possibility he could have lost against Devon Alexander. Having said that, Golden Boy most likely wanted to cash out on Khan while they still had the chance… I honestly don’t believe that Mayweather had serious intentions of fighting Khan other then Golden Boy asked him too.

Marcos Maidana is currently at the peak of his career and current WBA 147 champion. He’s defeated Soto Karass, Josesito Lopez and Adrien Broner… All three of those fights were great matches. He deserves a shot at Mayweather.

Email Hector Gonzalez at Hect59@hotmail.com



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