By Scott Gifloid: After having chased Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the past two years in trying to get a big money cash out fight against him, Amir Khan got the bad news on Tuesday that Mayweather will be passing him up yet again in order to fight the 31-year-old Andre Berto in his next fight on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan says he’s disappointed in not getting the fight against Mayweather once again, but he feels there are still a lot of big fights out there for him that he can seek out.
Khan didn’t say whether he learned a lesson from this experience in him putting so much of an emphasis on getting one big money fight. If Khan hasn’t learned a lesson from this, then you can expect him to continue to wait around for Mayweather to finally give him a fight in the future if Mayweather chooses to continue fighting.
“I’m disappointed not to have got the fight for what is the third time after having been one of the front-runners,” Khan said in a prepared statement on Wednesday.
Khan honestly could have earned the Mayweather fight many times over if he’d made the right moves both in and out of the ring. If Khan had kept his yap shut about him wanting the Mayweather fight so badly, it would have helped things. Khan also could have strengthened his position for the Mayweather fight if he’d fought better opposition in the last three years. That was probably Khan’s biggest reason for why he’s not getting the Mayweather fight.
Instead of fighting guys like Shawn Porter, Kell Brook, Errol Spence, Marcos Maidana, Tim Bradley and Danny Garcia in the last three years, Khan has taken on a bunch of light punchers in Luis Collazo, Julio Diaz, Devon Alexander, Carlos Molina and Chris Algieri. Those were not the kinds of guys that you fight if you’re trying to get attention from a talented fighter like Mayweather. Those are the type of fighters you face when you’re coming off of a knockout loss.
“There are many big fights out there for me and I’m going to continue working hard to establish myself at the top of the welterweight division,” Khan said. “Floyd Mayweather has fought the biggest names throughout his career and has earned the right to face whoever he chooses”
Well, it’s true there are a lot of big names out there in the boxing world that Khan can fight, so he needs to get up off the sofa and start fighting them instead of continually being matched against weak punchers over and over again. If Khan’s adviser Al Haymon is at fault for picking out nothing but soft jobs for Khan, then I think Khan needs to speak up and tell Haymon that he’s nearing his 30s now and he can’t afford to use up anymore of his career fighting a bunch of feather-fisted fighters that aren’t doing anything to increase his popularity.
Khan could be so much more popular than he is right now if he’s fought Keith Thurman, Spence, Maidana and Porter recently and beaten them all. Can you imagine how much respect Khan would command in the boxing world if he whipped all of those guys? Unfortunately, Khan hasn’t fought any of them, and that’s kept his career in the slow lane rather than in the fast lane.
“I wish my stable-mate Andre Berto and trainer Virgil Hunter the very best of luck in the fight. I have seen how hard Andre trains and works and know that he is ready to give Floyd a very tough night,” Khan said.
Berto and Khan both train with Virgil Hunter in his Hayward, California gym. At least Berto will be able to tell Khan what it’s like to fight Mayweather afterwards. Khan can then live vicariously through Berto.
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