By Scott Gilfoid: Amir “King” Khan is less than pleased with the news that the World Boxing Council has decided to remove him from their top 15 rankings altogether due to his inactivity. Khan doesn’t think the WBC should have stripped him of his No.2 ranking with their organization. The WBC made a logical move in taking Khan off of their top 15. It was a rationale decision on the WBC’s part.
The WBC organization had the choice of keeping a part-time fighter in Khan, who only occasionally fights nowadays, or having an active guy in Danny Garcia moved into the No.2 spot. The smart move was to place the more deserving Danny Garcia at No.2 and removing Khan from that spot. The problem with keeping Khan at number 2 is obvious. Khan would be occupying a space without him being active. Khan had the chance to fight for the WBC title in 2016 against Danny Garcia.
Khan had the fight if he had wanted to take it. Instead of facing Garcia for the WBC 147 pound title, Khan moved up in weight and challenged WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at a catch-weight of 155 lbs. on May 7 last year. The fight was televised on HBO PPV in the states.
The payday that Khan received for the Canelo fight was likely far more than what he would have received had he challenged Danny Garcia for his WBC welterweight title. Never the less, Khan opted to move up in weight to middleweight. As such, you cannot blame the WBC for clearing Khan out of the way a 147 to replace him with a more serious contender that is willing to fight for the WBC welterweight title when the opportunity is there for him.
Khan, 31, hasn’t fought since last year in May in his 6th round knockout loss to Saul Canelo Alvarez. While Khan spoke of wanting to get back inside the ring for a tune-up fight last April, he stayed out of the ring instead. Khan had been ranked No.2 by the WBC at the time they removed him from their rankings. Khan has since been replaced by Danny Garcia, who recently lost his WBC welterweight title to Keith “One Time” Thurman last March. Shawn Porter is ranked No.1 by the WBC, and he’s looking to get a rematch with Thurman.
“I am a little upset but it just makes the division exciting. I know I can become world champion again, if not the WBC one then maybe in WBA by defeating Peterson, the belt I was deprived of though cheating,” said Khan to the nation.com.pk.
Khan still isn’t ready to say when exactly he’ll be back inside the ring to resume his pro career. It’s been 12 months since Khan last fought against Canelo Alvarez. Khan doesn’t have a fight scheduled, and he’s not expected to fight this summer. Khan says he’s going to fight at the end of 2017, but he also said in the past that he would absolutely be fighting in April. Well, April came and went and Khan didn’t fight. Are we to believe what Khan is saying now that he’ll fight by the end of the year or do we take what Khan says with a grain of salt and simply take a wait and see approach?
Khan is a popular fighter. He’s not going to have problems getting interesting fights even if he’s not rated in the top 5 by the WBC. As soon as Khan starts fighting again, he’ll get pushed up the rankings with the various sanctioning bodies quickly. It would seem to be in Khan’s best interest to start fighting soon. Khan has only fought 1 time in the last 2 years. Khan fought once in 2015 and once in 2016. Khan beat Chris Algieri by a 12 round decision in 2015, and then lost to former WBC middleweight champion Canelo in 2016.
Khan had surgery last year on his right hand. It’s taken Khan a long time to come back from that injury. Khan still not fought in 2017, and it’s looking like if he does fight, it’ll be by the end of the year if at all. For Khan’s sake, he needs to get back in gear and start fighting. Throwing away 1-2 years of his career at this point in the game is probably not the wisest thing that Khan can do. There are more than a few boxing fan who are starting to believe that Khan is finished as a serious contender at 147. They see Khan as having had too much inactivity in the last 2 years of his activity for him to be able to come back from that.
“I don’t care about what big mouths are talking,” said Khan about his critics. ”I will prove in the middle of the ring that Khan is still the best and show my critics that I still have that knockout punch in me, which had laid down many in the middle of the ring.”
Khan hasn’t really been a knockout puncher during his 12-year pro career since starting out in 2005. Khan says he’s had a right hand injury since turning pro that has kept him from being able to sit down on his punches the way that he needed to for him to knockout guys. If Khan can hit harder now, it would be good news for his career and his many boxing fans. But still, Khan’s main problem is his punch resistance or lack thereof.
Khan falls apart when he gets hit hard by guys with power. Khan has been knocked out 3 times during his career at the hands of Briedis Prescott, Danny Garcia and Canelo Alvarez. Those were not simple knockouts. Those were BAD knockout losses in which Khan was laid out and badly hurt. Khan’s KO loss to Canelo last year was by far the worst of his career. Khan appeared to be completely unconscious from the right hand that Canelo hit him with in the 6th round of that fight.
As hurt as Khan was by the right hand from Canelo, it’s good he’s stayed out of the ring this long to recover from the knockout. It’s been a year already. Khan should have fought by now, shouldn’t he? I’m just saying. 12 months is a lifetime in boxing, especially for a guy that has only been fighting on an annual basis for the last 2 years of his career.
“I’m not afraid to get in the ring with any fighter, and I had proven this in my last fight against Canelo, who was 30 pounds heavier than me,” said Khan. ”I will now fight in my normal weight division, which is 147 lbs,” said Khan.
Khan said that he would be in a big fight in November or December, but his manager Al Haymon is going to need to find him a big name. Given the results from the last time Khan fought, he should take a tune-up fight to get the rust out and make sure that he’s still able to function inside the ring without getting knocked out by a stiff breeze. I’d hate to see Khan go into another tough fight against a top fighter and get knocked unconscious a second time.
Khan has the opportunity to fight Kell Brook in a big money fight. He should take that fight while Brook is still the IBF welterweight champion, because I think his days are numbered for the division. Brook is getting too heavy for the welterweight division. Khan should fight him now while the British boxing fans are still interested in that fight.