(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) By Allan Fox: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) successfully made weight on Thursday at his weigh-in for his fight on Friday against Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Khan weighed in at 146.4 pounds.
For his part, Algieri, 31, weighed in at slightly less at 146.2 pounds. Their fight will be televised on Spike TV on Premier Boxing Champions on Friday. This is Khan’s moment in the sun, his last chance to try and prove himself worthy of a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. for later this year in September.
Khan is trying to distance himself from talk of the Mayweather fight, but it’s in the forefront of Khan’s mind as he goes into this fight on Friday. The Algieri bout is essentially a dress rehearsal for the fight against Mayweather.
Khan has been told by Mayweather’s adviser Leonard Ellerbe that he’ll be next for him, and now Khan just has to not blow it by looking bad against Algieri, a fighter who is difficult to look good against. Khan has a good chance of beating Algieri, but he’s going to need to defeat him and look exceptionally sharp for him to guarantee that he gets the Mayweather fight.
Khan will need to look really good in this fight. The more drama the better for him. If it turns out to be a safety first fight for Khan with him failing to take any chances, he can forget about the Mayweather fight because it won’t happen.
Mayweather can afford to not take any chances in his fights against the likes of Manny Pacquiao, but Khan isn’t in the same boat. He has to be willing to get hit in this fight for him to make it as exciting as his fight against Marcos Maidana was five years ago in 2010.
Khan is wary of Algieri’s talent even though he recognizes that he’s not a puncher. Khan realizes that Algieri has the kind of ability that can turn this into a very difficult fight for him.
Algieri’s wins over Ruslan Provodnikov and Emmanuel Taylor showed clearly that he’s someone who can deal with punchers. Khan can’t get lulled into thinking that the Algieri that lost to Manny Pacquiao will be the same one that he sees on Friday because he could be in for a real shock when he gets inside the ring with him and finds out that he’s a very good fighter.
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