By Scott Gilfoid: Ricky Hatton believes that former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) deserves a shot against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) in 2015 despite the fact that Khan hasn’t faced a credible opponent in two years since his loss to Danny Garcia in 2012.
Hatton thinks that Khan has proven himself worthy of a big money fight against Mayweather. I’m not really sure why Hatton feels this way because Khan’s last three fights since his losses to Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson have come against Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz and Luis Collazo.
Khan will likely be facing 2nd tier fighter Josesito Lopez on December 6th, and that’s another tune-up type fight for Khan.
“Amir Khan deserves his shot,” Hatton said to the telegraph.co.uk. “Amir is right at the top of the list as well. He’s a big name and has been a world champion several times over. He moved up a weight and silenced the critics who said he might not have the chin to compete at welterweight. Nobody deserves it more than Amir. He’s taken a lot of slating over the years.”
I don’t think that Khan silenced any critics. I mean, he beat Marcos Maidana by a controversial decision in a fight that he likely would have been knocked out if the referee Joe Cortez hadn’t kept separating Maidana from Khan after he’d staggered him in the 10th round.
I feel that would have been a loss for Khan if a different had worked the fight and just let Maidana finish Khan off without continually getting in the way after he was staggering. Khan lost to Garcia and Peterson. His fights since then have come against weak opposition.
Collazo was ranked in the top 5 by the WBA, but clearly that was an inflated ranking based on no credible wins. The only name fighter that Collazo has beaten in years is Victor Ortiz, and he was someone who was coming off of a year and a half layoff when Collazo fought him.
“If Maidana can push Mayweather that close, Khan most definitely has a chance,” Hatton said.
I agree with Hatton about Khan being able to push Mayweather. That’s the whole problem. Pushing in boxing isn’t allowed, and we saw Khan pushing Peterson all over the ring in their fight in 2011.
Ultimately the referee working the fight Joseph Cooper had to step in and take two points away from Khan for his constant pushing. He was literally pushing Peterson each time he’d get close enough to throw a body punch.
I’d never seen a fighter push as much as Khan did in that fight. It reminded me of a fight that I saw in grade school between a tall girl and smaller class made of mine. He couldn’t get near the girl because she was shoving him all over the school yard. Finally she shoved him right into a hard cement wall and laid him out.
If Khan would beat a quality fighter like Keith Thurman then I would agree that Khan deserves a fight against Mayweather. But I don’t see Khan deserving a fight against Mayweather based off of his wins over Diaz, Molina and Collazo. And I don’t rate Josesito Lopez as top tier fighter after his losses to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Marcos Maidana.
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