Khan wants Golden Boy to start working on Mayweather fight for November

By Boxing News - 05/04/2014 - Comments

khan5By Scott Gilfoid: Instead of talking about his victory over Luis Collazo (35-6, 18 KO’s) at last night’s post-fight press conference at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) spent most of the time speaking about Floyd Mayweather Jr, and how he deserves a fight with him now that he beat the 33-year-old Collazo. Khan said that he can’t fight Mayweather in September due to Ramadan, and he wants Mayweather to move his scheduled September fight date to November to accommodate him.

Khan wants Golden Boy Promotions to start working on trying to set up the Mayweather fight despite the fact that Mayweather always fights in September in order to take advantage of the Mexican independence day holiday.

“Can start working on it [the Mayweather fight] and also Golden Boy can start promoting it because I really think it’ll be one of the biggest fights ever, especially with the backing I have in Asia. I bring something else to the table that Floyd has never seen.”

I honestly don’t see Collazo as a top 10 welterweight. It’s well and good that he beat Victor Ortiz last January, but in no do I see that as a big enough win for Collazo to have received the inflated ranking by the WBA and WBC. I see Collazo as a bottom 20 guy that Golden Boy put in the position to fight Khan to give him an old scalp to make him look better than he is.

Khan seemed to be immune to the reality that Mayweather will not move from his September date in order to fight him, a fighter who doesn’t have a huge fan base in the United States, in November. Khan’s view of a Mayweather-Khan fight being on of the biggest fights in ever is a rather deluded one because Khan doesn’t have anywhere near the fan base that previous opponents like Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez have in the United States. A Khan vs. Mayweather fight would likely be the equivalent of a Mayweather vs. Robert Guerrero fight in terms of fan interest and pay per view buys.

What was interesting about Khan’s post-fight press conference quotes was how he said that he did a better job in beating Marcos Maidana than Mayweather did. Khan mentioned how he had knocked Maidana down in the 1st round of their fight in 2010. However, Khan failed to say how badly the fight ended for him with Maidana literally pounding him from pillor to post in the final three rounds after hurting Khan with a right hand in the 10th round. Khan was out on his feet after taking the shot, and Maidana had to fight through the referee working the fight to get to Khan during the last 9 minutes of action.

“You see the way I fought Maidana, the way I overcame and won that fight, and Mayweather had problems against him,” Khan said. “Maidana is slower than me, and he was still catching Floyd. I can do a lot better than Maidana did. Maidana was getting one shot off, and I’ll get three shots off. A fight against Floyd is one that I’d like to have. he’s getting older now, he’s showing a lot of mistakes, and he’s not the same that he used to be. I think it’s a great time to catch him, and this is the time where someone young and hungry comes up and challenges him. Ramadan comes once a year, and for religious purposes, I respect that, it won’t happen in September. I mean, if he moves it to November, it can happen.”

I hate to rain on Khan’s parade but Mayweather will not be moving his September fight date to accommodate him. If Khan can’t take the fight, even if was actually offered to him in September, then that’s on him.

Someone from the audience asked Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer who he’ll match Khan up against later this year it’s not going to be against Mayweather, and Schaefer didn’t have an answer to that question. It’s no secret that the young stars Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman are chomping at the bit to try and get their hands on Khan to test his chin, but we’re not likely going to see that fight. It’s one thing Golden Boy matching a non relevant, aging fighter from the past in Luis Collazo against Khan, but it’s quite another thing for Khan to be put in with someone that is actually in their prime like Thurman and Porter. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Schaefer to put Khan in with either of those guys. What we’ll likely see is Schaefer match Khan against Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero next, as he was the one that Khan was almost matched against in this card. Guerrero is slow, upright, and he doesn’t have the power to trouble Khan the way Thurman and Porter do. In other words, Guerrero will be a safe fight to keep Khan winning long enough for Schaefer to try and convince Mayweather that he should fight a guy who has only beaten Collazo and Guerrero instead of the big names in the last three years.



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