By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) isn’t a happy camper right now with the way that WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) is making him wait to hear the news about whether he’ll get the fight against him or not on September 12th. Khan feels that Mayweather should have already said something by now, and he’s taking too much time.
There is now only eight and a half weeks to go before Mayweather’s next fight, leaving little time to promote the fight. Khan thinks Mayweather is dragging it out in an act of gamesmanship, to get an advantage over his opponents by leaving them on edge, an unable to begin training 100 percent.
Mayweather never said he was going to fight Khan next, and he said recently that he’s not trying to “con anybody” when asked if he was considering Khan as his next opponent in September. I mean, you would think that with the things that Mayweather has said, or not said about Khan, that he’s clearly not interested in fighting the British fighter.
If I was in Khan’s shoes, I wouldn’t be thinking I was going to get the fight at all against Mayweather, because I would have been able to see the writing on the wall. I would just go ahead and have my adviser schedule me a fight against the best possible opponent and forget about Mayweather. But that’s not what’s happening with Khan. He just can’t let go and come to terms with Mayweather not being interested in fighting him.
“I just don’t know why he’s playing these little games, I think its unprofessional really from a person like Floyd Mayweather who is renowned as one of the best fighters ever,” Khan said to sport360.com. “He is playing these little games just to look for every little advantage that he can get. But I’m not going to let it get to me, I’m just going to keep calm and collected. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t then there will be a plan B to move onto.”
Oh boy, Khan breaking down over the suspense of waiting for the Mayweather fight. Khan, take the pain. Deal with it. Try and keep a stiff upper lip.
I think it’ already gotten to Khan a long time ago. Khan says it’s not bothering him, the games that he thinks Mayweather is playing, but I disagree. Khan is clearly bothered to the extreme, especially with the way that Mayweather recently named Andre Berto and Karim Mayfield, two fighters that share the same trainer and same gym as Khan, as possible opponents. Khan was up in arms about those guys being mentioned as possibilities for Mayweather’s next fight. If this was done intentionally by Mayweather in mentioning Mayfield and Berto, then he served his purpose in getting under the skin of Khan. Why would Mayweather do that? Khan thinks he did it because he’s interested in fighting him next. I don’t see it that way. I think Mayweather did it because he was tired of all the yapping that Khan has been doing about him night and day for the past four years about wanting a fight against him. The best way for Mayweather to fix Khan’s little red wagon would be to name two guys from his gym as guys he might be interested in fighting. If Mayweather takes it all the way to the end and actually fights Berto or Mayfield instead of Khan, it will be all the more worse for Khan. He will have been officially passed over by Mayweather for one of his gym mates. That would have to really hurt, especially if Mayweather then retires afterwards. Khan would have nothing to show for four years of yapping about Mayweather.
“He’s going to mention guys who train with me or who are always around me,” Khan said. “He’s going to mention those guys to try and get under my skin. But I know all the games that Floyd Mayweather plays. Floyd’s playing games but this is a fight, we are professional boxers. Why not just be a man, say who you’re going to fight and get it done? Stop playing these little games.”
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