Khan: If I beat Algieri in style I’ll be in a great position for a mega-fight

By Boxing News - 04/30/2015 - Comments

khan777By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) believes that his fight next month on May 29th against former WBO 140 pound champion Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) could be opening the door for him to get a mega-fight against one of the sport’s biggest stars.

Khan, of course, wants a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao, and he believes that beating the 31-year-old Algieri could be the door opener for him to achieve that goal.

“If I win this fight [against Algieri] in style it will put me in a great position for a mega-fight,” Khan said via the Dailymail.co.uk. “I’m probably closer than ever [to a really big fight] so I’m not going to let anything go wrong this time. I’m going to win this fight comfortably.”

I don’t think Khan is any closer to getting a fight against Mayweather or Pacquiao than he was after he got starched in the 4th round by Danny Garcia three long years ago in 2012. Khan has wasted his time since then, facing one weak after another in a series of tune-up bouts.

Khan appears to be trying to get a mega-fight against Mayweather and Pacquiao the easy way by taking on soft opposition to make sure that he gets the fight rather than taking the risky opponents that those two fighters faced when getting their first mega-fight of their career.

In Khan’s last four fights, he’s beaten Devon Alexander, Luis Collazo, Julio Diaz and Carlos Molina. I

f you look at the guys that Mayweather and Pacquiao had to fight before they got their first mega-fight of their careers it’s like night and day. Mayweather and Pacquiao took on a lot of tough opponents before they received their break through mega-fights.

Here are the guys that Mayweather faced before he finally got his first mega-fight of his career against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007:

Carlos Baldomir, a prime Zab Judah, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Arturo Gatti, DeMarcus Corley, Emanuel Augustus, Carlos Hernandez, Jesus Chavez, Genaro Hernandez and Angel Manfredy.

These are the fighters that Pacquiao fought before he got his first mega-fight against De La Hoya in 2008:

Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Oscar Larios, Fahsan 3K Battery, Emmanuel Lucero, Jorge Eliecer Julio, Agapito Sanchez, Nedal Hussein, and Medgoen Singsurat.

It seems pretty obvious that Khan is looking to take the easy path compared to the fighters that Mayweather and Pacquiao fought.

Khan’s problem is that even if he changes course to start facing quality opposition, he won’t have enough time to build up for a mega-fight against Mayweather because Floyd already said that his last fight of his career will be next September. What this means is that Khan likely already blew his chance to get a Mayweather fight by taking on five consecutive soft opponents in the last three years. Instead of taking on the prerequisite opposition to put himself in position to get the Mayweather fight, Khan took on a bunch of softer opponents who didn’t have the clout or the punching power to get him the respect that he needs for him to get a fight against Mayweather.

As far as Khan-Pacquiao fight goes, I don’t see it happening either. Khan is with adviser Al Haymon, and I don’t think Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is going to greenlight that fight between Pacquiao and Khan, especially if Pacquiao loses to Mayweather this Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. If Pacquiao loses the fight to Mayweather, Arum is going to likely take a kneejerk reaction by putting Pacquiao in with his Top Rank fighters one after another for the next two to three years until he retires. I don’t think Arum is going to even let Khan get a chance of possibly pulling off a major upset in beating Pacquiao.



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