By Scott Gilfoid: With two months to go before his next fight in May, Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) still doesn’t have an opponent for his next bout. He missed out on getting fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao. Khan could have had a fight against Kell Brook, but he chose not to take that fight.
So instead of getting any of those guys, Khan wants to battle WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) for his next fight.
Cotto doesn’t plan on fighting in May though, as he’s looking to fight on June 6th in New York. The names that Cotto has been linked to are 41-year-old Cornelius Bundrage and #1 WBC Jorge Sebastian Heiland.
Cotto looks like he’s going to shoot for a beatable guy who will stand directly in front of him for his next fight. Bundrage and Heiland are both come-forward type of fighters. They’re not going to run around the ring, shoving, holding, putting Cotto into head-locks or fighting on the back foot all night long the way Khan does.
It’s very, very doubtful that Cotto wants to have to chase Khan around the ring on June 6th. I certainly don’t see Cotto wanting to be held and shoved all night either. That’s why I don’t think Khan has even a remote chance of getting a fight against Cotto now, or ever. Khan’s style of fighting is just too negative unless there’s a referee that will force him to fight without using the pushing, holding and shoving tactics.
“I think Miguel Cotto’s a good fighter for me. Obviously styles make fights, he’s a very big name in boxing, and everyone knows who he is,” Khan said via Skysports.com. “I think with my speed, movement and the way I have been fighting under [trainer] Virgil Hunter, I think it will be a great fight for me. I know he is a lot heavier than me but doing that fight at catch-weight will be amazing.”
I think Cotto will agree to use a catch-weight if he were to fight someone like Tim Bradley or Bundrage, but I doubt he’d do it for a Khan fight. I just don’t see him wanting to drain himself down for the sake of fighting Khan.
Bradley at least is well-known in the United States after his two fights against Manny Pacquiao. Khan hasn’t had any similar fights. Instead of Khan fighting big names in his fights in the U.S, he’s been fighting guys like little Carlos Molina, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander. Those guys just didn’t have the name value to get boxing fans to tune in to Khan’s fights in the U.S in big numbers.
“But at the moment, we have just left everything with the managers and hopefully they can get everything sorted out and within the next week or so, we can get something announced for hopefully towards the end of May,” Khan said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzoRSaImPWI
Khan has been talking about his fight being on the verge of being announced for some time now. The fact that it’s still not announced suggests that his management may be having difficulties finding an opponent that the boxing public will want to see him fight. Khan could always fight someone like Marcos Maidana, but I don’t think Khan or his adviser Al Haymon wants to make that fight.
Instead of Maidana or Cotto, I can see Khan being put in with the likes of Teerachai Kratingdaeggym, Kevin Bizier, Antonin Decairie, Ray Robinson, Chris Van Heerden, Francisco Santana, Richmond Djarbeng, Cameron Hammond, Jeff Horn, David Avanesyan, Charlie Navarro, Konstantin Ponomarev, Johan Perez, Fariz Mammadov, Sadam Ali, Dusty Hernandez Harrison, Deniz Ilbay or Fariz Mammadov. Believe it or not, those guys are all contenders in the top 15 in the welterweight division, and they’re obscure guys without big names. They’re also quite beatable. I see Khan being matched against one of those guys in yet another showcase fight for him. Whoever gets the fight, I don’t see him being anyone that has the punching power to hurt Khan.
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