(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) just passed what he hoped was his audition last Friday in beating Chris Algieri (20-2, 8 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision to try and get a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September. If Khan gets the Mayweather fight, he’d be getting a good payday on top of the honor of being the last opponent of his 19-year pro career.
Khan more than anything wants to hand Mayweather his first defeat because he feels it would validate his own career if he could be the guy that beat Mayweather. But if Khan doesn’t get the fight against Mayweather, then where does Khan go next? Khan has just beaten five soft opponents in a row in defeating Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo, Devon Alexander and now Chris Algieri.
None of them had punching power, which more and more seems to be a prerequisite to facing Khan.
If Khan doesn’t get the Mayweather fight in September, then a lot of boxing fans are going to be expecting him to face IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t think Khan will get the fight against Mayweather in September. But instead of seeing Khan give up on the Mayweather fight, he believes he’ll look to get the fight against the American star in May of 2016.
If Khan still thinks he has a chance at landing a fight against Mayweather, then it’s quite possible that he’ll continue to face guys in Algieri and Collazo’s talent range until it becomes clear in the future that he’ll either get the fight or not.
If he doesn’t get the Mayweather fight this year, Khan is going to look bad if he doesn’t take on someone like Brook, or at least someone in his class. It’s going to be tough on Khan because he’ll need to continue to find new guys that are popular enough for boxing fans to care about seeing him fight. Khan was really pushing it by facing Algieri considering he was coming off of a loss to Manny Pacquiao. But where does Khan face his next opponent? Does he start facing the obscure guys that are ranked in the top 15 that fans have zero knowledge of, or does Khan take on the dangerous fighters like Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana or Brook?
As bad as Khan looked in beating Algieri, he’s going to have problems against almost anyone he faces from now on. Fighters now know how to give Khan problems by putting pressure on him, and they’re going to continue to use that strategy against him until he shows that he can nullify it.
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