Amir Khan to fight in February or March

By Boxing News - 10/05/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) plans on resuming his career in February or March 2017 against an opponent still to be determined. Still ranked No.1 by the World Boxing Council at welterweight, Khan has an opportunity to fight for a world title against WBC 147lb champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (32-0, 18 Kos) if he wants it.

The WBC has had Khan rated as their No.1 welterweight for a year now despite the fact that he only fought once in 2016 in getting smashed in six rounds by former WBC middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez last May on HBO PPV.

It should be interesting to see who Khan fights in 2017, and whether he’ll be in the ring for more than one fight. My guess is Khan will fight a fringe contender in early 2017, and then spend the remainder of the year traveling around the world. I see it that way. Ideally, Khan SHOULD fight Danny Garcia while he’s still ranked at No.1 by the WBC, but I just don’t see that happening.

I think Khan will look for an easy tune-up, and after that, he’ll spend the remainder of the year out of the ring jetting around. I mean, I hope I’m wrong, because Khan needs to stay busy with what’s left of his career, but I just don’t see him doing that. Khan needs to cash out while there’s still interest in his career from boxing fans. It’ll be bad news if he gets knocked out again or if he goes back to fighting non-relevant fighters.

Khan, 29, is coming off of hand surgery to repair an old injury that has plagued him for the past 10 years of his boxing career. Khan figures that he was fighting with only 60% of his power all these years as a pro. Khan had surgery on his hand after his loss to Canelo, and he’s still waiting to resume training to get ready for his next fight.
Khan said to Fighthype.com:

“The doctor could not believe I kept fighting with a hand like that. I was losing at least 60% power. I can’t run; I can’t swim. I’m in a really awkward position. But the doctors did say the healing process is going well and hopefully I’ll be fighting again in February or March.”

Khan’s probable isn’t his punching power. It’s his ability to take shots to the head. It doesn’t matter if Khan winds up with 40% more power after his hand heals up. If he can’t take a good head shot without nose-diving to the canvas for a 10 count, then he’s going to be no better off than he was before the surgery.

Another problem unrelated to Khan’s hand issues is his inactivity. He doesn’t fight enough anymore. Khan does a lot of traveling around the ring. He’s frequently showing pictures of himself in planes on social media traveling one place to another. Traveling is fine, but when you’re only fighting once a year, then you have to think that maybe Khan should forget about it until he’s retired. Khan just has not been busy enough during the prime of his career, and now he’s pretty much a guy with a high ranking based off nothing wins over guys like Chris Algieri, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander in the last two years.

Here are the fighters that I think Khan would lose to in the 147lb division:

– Errol Spence Jr.

– Keith Thurman

– Shawn Porter

– Tim Bradley

– Jessie Vargas

– Manny Pacquiao

– Kell Brook

– Danny Garcia

– Andre Berto

– Frankie Gomez

– Lamont Peterson

– Felix Diaz

– David Peralta

Those are just the guys that I think Khan would lose to right now. By next year, I expect that list to grow, especially if Khan fights only once in 2017. You can argue that Khan’s career pretty much ended in 2012 in terms of him being a serious fighter. He was knocked out by Danny Garcia in four rounds. Since then, Khan has fought only six times in four years. That’s not good, believe me. Khan had lost a controversial 12 round decision to Lamont Peterson a year before in 2011. Some boxing fans think Khan deserved the win in that fight. It wasn’t surprising that Khan lost because he was shoving Peterson all around the ring like it was a playground fight rather than a boxing match. Khan kept pushing Peterson.

The referee tried to talk some sense into Khan to tell him to stop shoving, but he wouldn’t do it. As such, the referee had to take points away from Khan on two occasions in the fight. Without shoving, Khan likely would have been worked over by Peterson on the inside and knocked out, because he couldn’t handle his pressure at all.

Khan isn’t saying who he plans on fighting next year, but Kell Brook would be a great option for him. That’s a fight that needs to be made before these two fighters no longer relevant. Brook was just stopped in the 5th round by IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin on September 10 last month, and it remains to be seen whether Brook will move back down to the welterweight division or not. If he can’t make it back down in weight, then his future is very much uncertain. At 154, Brook might wind up getting beaten by all the top guys. That’s why it’s important that he fight Khan NOW before he starts losing left and right. Khan and Brook are in the same boat career-wise in my view. Both are 30-ish and now heading towards the twilight of their careers.