Khan: Tim Bradley fight wasn’t offered to me

By Boxing News - 04/05/2015 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Welterweight contender Amir Khan says that an IBF welterweight eliminator match was never even offered to him by the International Boxing Federation.

There have been reports by Dan Rafael of ESPN that Khan turned down the IBF eliminator bout against Bradley, which would make a lot of sense considering that if Khan won the fight he would be stuck fighting IBF champion Kell Brook. Heck, Khan can get the fight against Brook regardless of whether he fights in an IBF eliminator or not, so it’s kind of a big joke if Khan were to even be offered the fight against Bradley.

Khan says he’s always wanted to fight Bradley. That was a fight that Khan tried to get ages ago, but Bradley opted not to take it.

“Fight wasn’t even offered to me,” Khan said via FightHype.com. “I got no notice from the IBF and my advisor has never said to me that I have to fight Tim Bradley in an eliminator. That’s [expletive]. They’re just trying to make me look bad. That fight’s never been offered to me.”

It’s neither here nor there if Khan turned down the IBF 147 pound eliminator bout, because Khan isn’t missing out on anything. He could have the fight against IBF champion Kell Brook without an eliminator. The whole idea of an eliminator for Khan is a joke. It’s mind-numbing.

Of course, Khan wouldn’t take the fight against Bradley if it were offered to him because it would channel Khan towards a fight against Brook, which isn’t the one that Khan wants. Khan is interested in the big money bouts against Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao rather than facing Brook, who Khan sees as a still unproven fighter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzoRSaImPWI

“FYI: It was Showtime that told me it turned down possible Khan-Algieri. It was IBF that told me Khan’s side turned down Bradley eliminator,” Dan Rafael said on his twitter.

Whatever the case, it’s no big deal even if Khan did turn down the IBF eliminator bout. I mean, if Khan doesn’t want the Brook fight then why in the heck would he choose to fight in an IBF eliminator in order to become Brook’s IBF mandatory?

I’m sure that Brook and his promoter Eddie Hearn would absolutely love for Khan to do that because then they could get the fight against him, but it makes no sense on Khan’s part for him to waste his time fighting an eliminator.

Khan surprised a lot of boxing fans earlier on Sunday with the news that his fight against Chris Algieri still isn’t a done deal for May 30th. Khan announced the fight this past week as something that was going to happen. If it wasn’t a done deal then Khan obviously shouldn’t have wasted time announcing the fight.

Some boxing fans wonder if Khan is having second thoughts about fighting Algieri due to the fan backlash at him fighting a guy with no power. Algieri is coming off of a one-sided loss to Manny Pacquiao from last November in their fight in Macau, China. If Khan isn’t going to fight Brook, then fans want to see Khan at least someone that has some pop in his punches like Marcos Maidana, Lucas Matthysse, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman or Diego Chaves.



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