Haye: Khan is the No.2 fighter in the world behind Mayweather; he’d beat Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 05/10/2014 - Comments

khan2222By Scott Gilfoid: Former two division world champion David Haye is campaigning hard for WBC Silver strap holder Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) to get a fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (46-0, 26 KO’s), despite Khan’s dismal 3-2 record in his last 5 fights. Haye believes that Khan deserves a fight against Mayweather off of his performance against one-time WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo, and Haye sees Khan as the No.2 fighter in the world behind Mayweather. Haye thinks that Khan would also beat Manny Pacquiao.

Haye didn’t say anything about why Khan has a 3-2 record in his last five fights, and why he hasn’t faced any of the younger, more talented fighters since his knockout loss to Danny Garcia in 2012. Khan has won his last three fights but against weak opposition in Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz and Collazo. While some boxing fans think Collazo is a top 5 welterweight, it’s very difficult to see him even as a top 10 welterweight when you look at the entire field of fighters at that weight. As such, Khan’s victory over Collazo came against a guy who is more of a bottom 20 guy than an actual top 5 fighter.

“That was the performance for me [in beating 33-year-old Collazo] that he [Khan] is the best fighter on the planet behind Mayweather,” Haye said. “I think Khan can have A LOT more success against Mayweather than Maidana. I think he has a much better chance than anyone else. I want to see him [Mayweather] fight Khan. I think Khan would beat Pacquiao. Amir Khan is in his peak. It’s got to be now this year or next year. Even if he goes out and beats Mayweather, they’ll say, ‘Oh, he [Mayweather] was old.’ A lot of boxing fans hate. They made up their minds about Khan a long time ago. If anybody can beat Mayweather, it’s Amir Khan. He’s the only person with the speed and foot movement.”

Haye does a good job of selling Khan, but he doesn’t say why Khan isn’t fighting the best welterweights to earn the fight. It’s nice that Khan beat a fighter from yesterday in Collazo, whose best years are 5-8 years in the past, but there are arguably much, much better fighters than Collazo in the welterweight division now. Why isn’t Khan fighting WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman and IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter? Heck, why isn’t Khan fighting Kell Brook? I don’t rate Brook as being a great fighter, but I definitely see him as a level above Collazo in terms of power, speed, youth, and talent. Why isn’t Khan fighting those guys?

It’s difficult to see Khan as being the No2 fighter at 147 in the world if all he’s beaten is Collazo at this weight. I mean, this just looks like a situation where Khan’s manager Al Haymon and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions dragged out Collazo to make Khan look better than he actually is. I don’t mind seeing fighters matched against old timers, but come on. How about putting Khan in with someone that’s not old. Khan fought 34-year-old Julio Diaz in his previous fight and then 33-year-old Collazo. How can you take Khan serious if he’s being matched up against old guys instead of the guys he should be fighting?

Haye went onto say that Khan totally dominated Maidana in their fight in 2010, and that Khan got a little tired in the end of the fight. Haye didn’t mention how Khan was holding onto Maidana for the last three rounds of the fight, and how he looked like a beaten fighter after the fight was over. Indeed, Khan’s faced was badly swollen after the Maidana fight, and he looked like he’d been run over by a truck. It didn’t look like Khan dominated Maidana from what I saw. It looked like Khan was saved from being knocked out by the constant breaks by the referee after he was badly hurt in the 10th.



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