Khan says he can’t fight Mayweather in September

By Boxing News - 05/06/2015 - Comments

Amir Khan vs Devon AlexanderBy Scott Gilfoid: If Floyd Mayweather Jr. has any true interest at all in facing Britain’s Amir Khan this September, Mayweather will need to move off his September date to accommodate Khan due to him not being available to fight in September because of Ramadan. This means that Mayweather would need to move off the Mexican holiday date that he always fights on in September. Fat chance that happens.

If Khan were a more popular fighter, then maybe Mayweather would be open to moving to November or December in order to accommodate him. But the reality is Khan isn’t a big name in the United States with the casual boxing fans despite him having fought over there steadily for the past five years.

The things that likely have kept Khan from steadily becoming more and more popular like Gennady Golovkin is Khan’s two losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Additionally, Khan obviously hasn’t helped himself recently by facing non-popular fighters in his last four fights. That trend is continuing for Khan with him fighting Chris Algieri this month on May 29th.

“I think I know how to beat him [Mayweather] and I’d be ready for him,” Khan told Mlive.com. “September, I can’t do. That hasn’t changed. But I talked to [Mayweather Promotions CEO] Leonard Ellerbe after the fight and I know they’re interested. It just depends on the schedule,” Khan said.

I wonder if Ellerbe was just being kind to the 28-year-old Khan by saying that he’s interested in the fight. If Ellerbe just bumped into Khan, then I can understand him telling him that there’s some interest. I mean, Ellerbe would be on the spot in speaking with Khan, a fighter who has been saying over and over again how much he wants to fight Mayweather. What do you say to a person like Khan other than telling him what he wants to hear? But I doubt that Ellerbe was at all serious about wanting to make that fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ellberbe told Khan he was interested in a Mayweather-Khan fight as a way of getting him out of his hair temporarily. I think it’s one of those ‘Yeah, yeah, we’ll do the fight one of these days’ from Ellerbe rather than serious interest. But even if Ellerbe is serious about wanting to match Mayweather with Khan near the end of 2015, it obviously isn’t going to happen now that Khan is saying he can’t fight in September. That was pretty much the kiss of death for a Mayweather-Khan fight as far as I’m concerned.

Mayweather will likely stick to his September fight date, and then choose Manny Pacquiao to fight in early 2016. After that, Khan likely won’t be available to fight Mayweather in September of next year due to Ramadan. That means no Mayweather-Khan fight in 2016. Sorry, I really don’t think Mayweather is still going to be around in 2017 to give Khan the fight that he’s been longing for so long. By that time, Mayweather will be 40-years-old. Do you honestly think Mayweather will bother to fight someone like Khan at age 40? I don’t. If Mayweather is still fighting at that ripe age, he’s likely going to be looking to fight guys that can bring big cash. In other words, a third fight against Pacquiao or rematches against Cotto or Canelo Alvarez.



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