By Scott Gilfoid: Former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi thinks that Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) is now capable of beating both Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao if the 28-year-old Khan can get a fight against either of them.
That’s a big IF because those guys are likely going to be looking in another directions if their fight doesn’t get made for May 2nd. Malignaggi says he’s not sure if Khan can beat WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman, a fighter known for having big power in both hands.
For Khan to beat Thurman, he’d have to be able to withstand 12 rounds of getting thumped hard by Thurman’s power shots. There’s no question that Thurman would have a huge advantage because he already knows that Khan has a chin problem, and he’d be looking to KO him with head shots with every punch he throws.
“I don’t know that Amir beats [Keith] Thurman, but I do think he beats Floyd and Pacquiao,” Malignaggi said via esnewsreporting.com. “I think in my mind he [Khan] beats the two most popular guys in the world, but I don’t know at this point who the clear cut No.1 is. It’s a matter of debate, and that’s what makes boxing so great. Hopefully, Mayweather-Pacquiao gets made because of the kind of publicity it can bring to boxing. But I don’t know if it’s the most dangerous fight in the welterweight division,” Malignaggi said.
Khan, as Mayweather pointed out recently, doesn’t have the name recognition in the United States for him to want to fight him right now. Whether that’ll change in the future is the big question. Khan will obviously need to stop fighting lesser fighters and start facing the cream of the crop in the welterweight division. In other words, Khan can’t keep fighting the Carlos Molina, Luis Collazo, Devon Alexander and Luis Collazo types if he wants to get a shot against Mayweather.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXZ18nfz1O4
Here’s my take on Malignaggi’s thoughts on Khan beating Mayweather and Pacquiao: I don’t see it happening. Mayweather is too accurate with his shots, too good of a counter puncher, and too dangerous with his ability to land short punches with a lot of power. Unless Khan is going to muddy the waters by holding & hitting, throwing low blows, shoving frequently and pulling Mayweather’s head back, I just don’t see Khan as having any chance of beating Mayweather.
Khan would be really up against it against Pacquiao as well, because he would need to take a lot of fast and powerful shots repeatedly in the fight. Now that Pacquiao has had a warmup fight against Chris Algieri, Khan’s running, holding and jabbing would likely have no effect against Pacquiao.
I could see this fight ending quickly and badly for Khan. Once Pacquiao catches up with Khan, I see him stunning the British fighter with a shot to the head that wobbles Khan. With Khan now on weak legs, Pacquiao would then go in for the kill to finish him off with a flurry of fast combinations. I mean, this wouldn’t be a sparring session with Khan getting to wear head gear and Pacquiao wearing large gloves to cushion his blows.
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