By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) has been out of the ring since last May when he fought Luis Collazo on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Marcos Maidana card.
While Mayweather and Maidana are already scheduled to face each other again on September 13th, Khan is sitting on the sidelines without a scheduled fight and with his future prospects for big fights looking uncertain.
Mayweather has been asked repeatedly during his press tour with Maidana this week whether he plans on fighting Khan next May, and Mayweather has said “I only focus on one fighter at a time and what’s in front of me.” In answering the questions each time, Mayweather chose not to even say Khan’s name, which is probably a pretty good indication that Khan’s chances of getting a fight against him aren’t very good.
Earlier today, Khan made a cryptic post on his twitter, saying “The guy you’re fighting still has Khan problems!” What’s interesting about this post by Khan is it wasn’t directed at any one fighter, and it was deleted within minutes after he made the post. Khan could be talking about anyone, but my guess is he was directing it at Maidana.
Khan absolutely wants the Mayweather fight and now that it’s looking like he’s been put on the ignore list by Mayweather, Khan is kind of in a situation where he’s looking at lesser fights in the future.
Khan supposedly plans on getting back in the ring in either November or December. He could in theory be facing Kell Brook if he can get past IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter in their fight next month on August 16th, but that’s not looking too good right now considering that Porter is the favorite to beat Brook.
Khan hasn’t shown a great deal of interest in fighting Porter for some reason, so it’s not likely that a Khan-Porter fight will happen at the end of the year. Khan also hasn’t shown a lot of interest in fighting WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman either, so he’s probably not an option as well.
Manny Pacquiao signed to fight Chris Algieri on November 22nd in Macao, China. The options for Khan’s next fight really aren’t that good to be honest unless he wants to bite the bullet and take on Porter or Thurman. If not those two guys, then we’re probably going to be looking at someone like Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero if he’s healed up from his recent punishing fight against Yoshihiro Kamegai from last month.
If not Guerrero, then it’s going to be interesting to see who Khan’s adviser Al Haymon picks out for him. You have to remember that the opponent will need to be approved by Showtime’s vice president of Sports Stephen Espinoza, who recently has taken a great deal of criticism for his decision to bless an August 9th fight between Danny Garcia and Rod Salka and Lamont Peterson vs. Edgar Santana. Will Espinoza give Khan a free pass to take on another older fighter like the last two aged guys he’s fought or will he put his foot down and insist on quality.
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