Khan faces Algieri on 5/29 at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York

By Boxing News - 04/15/2015 - Comments

khan34By Scott Gilfoid: In what will surely be seen in a negative light by many boxing fans, former IBF/WBC light welterweight champion Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) will be back in the ring at the end of next month on May 29th against former WBO 140 pound world titlist Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) on Spike TV on Premier Boxing Champions at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Khan, 28, wants a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. Khan seems to believe that as long as he continues to win, he’ll eventually get a shot against one of those two big names.

Fighting Algieri, a fighter who is recognizable to some casual boxing fans due to his fights against Ruslan Provondikov and Pacquiao, will serve the purpose of Khan continuing to win and beating guys that fans have heard about in the United States.

The fight may not interest some American boxing fans because of how badly Algieri was beaten in his last fight against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on November 22nd. Algieri was knocked down six times in that fight in losing a wide 12 round unanimous decision. With Khan now fighting Algieri immediately before he’s even had a chance of coming back from the defeat to Pacquiao, it’s going to make Khan look like he’s looking for soft opponents that are losing rather than tough opponents that are winning and fighting at the top of their game.

“I’m delighted to now be fighting there once again against another champion in Chris Algieri,” Khan said “Algieri has shared the ring with some tremendous fighters and shown great skills in those fights so I know I will need to be at my very best when we meet. In all my fights I bring excitement, speed and skill and can guarantee more fireworks on May 29 at Barclays Center.”

Fighting Algieri is a showcase fight for Khan for him to look good against a guy that doesn’t have the punching power to put him on the canvas like Danny Garcia and Breidis Prescott did. This is a fight where Khan can potentially look really good, and impress casual boxing fans on free TV in America. The fight will likely be seen by as many as 3 million casual boxing fans, even though it’s technically a mismatch due to Algieri’s lack of punching power and limited skills.
“Amir Khan is a tested champion and is the matchup that I wanted,” Algieri said. “I believe this is a fight that will bring the best out of me.”

Well, this is a fight where Algieri is going to need to find some power for him to win. He’s basically in the same boat as the light hitting Devon Alexander was in when he faced Khan. Alexander didn’t have the punching power to keep Khan honest and the fight turned out to be a one-sided fight with Khan winning a 12 round decision last December. Algieri may not even be as good as Alexander through, and that tells you that this fight is likely going to be a one-sided affair from start to finish.

I personally see this as a mistake on Khan’s part in facing Algieri; not because he’s a dangerous opponent, but rather due to him not being nearly a big enough name for Khan to win over a lot of boxing fans. Khan’s goal is to get fights against Mayweather and Pacquiao so that he can prove that he deserves to be up there with those two as the top fighters in boxing. But with Khan not facing the guys that he needs to be facing for him to get a fight against Mayweather, he’s wasting his time and just spinning his wheels without showing boxing fans that he has the courage to fight the best like Keith Thurman. This would be greats news that Khan is fighting Algieri if it took place five years ago when Khan was younger and still working his way up the food chain, but Khan is pushing 30-years-old now, and he’s way, way behind guys like Mayweather and Pacquiao in terms of accomplishments. One of the major reasons for that is the wasted time that Khan has has since he was stomped by Danny Garcia in 2012. Khan has fought nothing but weak opposition ever since that loss, and now he’s continuing that into 2015 instead of taking on the best and proving he’s worthy of a title shot against Mayweather or Pacquiao.



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