By Scott Gilfoid: Super middleweight contender Vijender Singh (10-0, 7 KOs) has called out inactive welterweight Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) for an unlikely fight. Singh, 32, states that he holds titles, and Khan is a former champion. So, he feels that’s a good reason for the 2 of them to face each other.
Singh is a 3-time Olympian from India. He had an excellent amateur career, but thus far he still hasn’t done anything at the pro level other than winning the WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Oriental super middleweight titles. Those are lower level trinket titles, and not world class belts.
At 32, Singh is getting up there in age for a fighter who still has yet to fight his first talented contender at 168. Singh is going to need to make that move sooner or later if he wants to amount to anything during his pro career. Calling out Khan is a weak move on Singh’s part. Instead of calling out fighters 3 divisions below him, Singh should be trying to fight the best guys in his own weight class at 168.
There’s one problem that would keep Khan, 31, and #8 WBO super middleweight contender Singh from fighting, and that’s the size difference between the two of them. The 6-foot Singh fights 3 divisions above Khan, who has yet to prove that he has the talent to compete at the highest rungs of the welterweight division.
”“He’s boasted that he has two world titles, now I too have two world titles, so we should have a fight,” said Singh to the Timesnownews.com.
It would be nice if Singh fought a contender in the super middleweight division. Singh’s best wins of his career have come against these fighters: Francisco Cheka and Ernest Amazu. Those guys are so far off the unbeaten track in the top rankings at 168 that it’s not even funny. They’re not even close to being top contenders. Singh has a failure to launch. With Singh’s long amateur career, he should have been fighting top caliber world class contenders 2 years ago after he turned pro in 2015 rather than still taking on soft jobs and wasting time winning trinket titles instead of going after the best.
Khan says he’s going to be fighting 3 times in 2018, and he would like to fight WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman after he takes a tune-up fight in March. Khan is also interested in fighting former 4 division world champion Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner at 147. Khan hasn’t said anything about wanting to move up to super middleweight to fight anyone in that weight class, so that would suggest that the 32-year-old Singh is out of luck as far as a fight against ‘King’ Khan goes.
”I love the Thurman fight. After March tune up,” said Khan about his plans for 2018.
It’s doubtful that Thurman will give Khan a title shot. Khan has been out of action since May of 2016 after losing to former WBC middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez by a 6th round knockout. It would look very weak on Thurman’s part if he were to fight Khan. The boxing public wants to see Thurman face IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in 2018. Thurman is already taking a tune-up fight against Jessie Vargas on April 16. Vargas has fought only once in the past year, and that against a journeyman. It’s a weak move on Thurman’s part to fight Vargas. The boxing public will let Thurman get away with taking a soft touch in Vargas because he’s coming off of an elbow injury, but if Thurman decides to take another tune-up beyond that against Amir Khan, the boxing public is going to tear into ‘One Time’ for him marinating his titles.
Khan does not look like he’s going to do anything with the remainder of his career. He’s talking about wanting to fight 3 times in 2018, but the odds of that happening are slim and none. Khan will likely fight in March, and then spend the rest of the year traveling from one place to another. It would be nice if Khan doesn’t get injured again or knocked out. Khan treated boxing like a part time sport since 2013 for some reason.
Since 2013, this is Khan’s schedule of fights:
• 2013: Julio Diaz
• 2014: Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander
• 2015: Chris Algieri
• 2016: Saul Alvarez
• 2017: Inactive
Khan has been a part time fighter since 2013, and he hasn’t fought in 1 ½ years. Khan will have been out of the ring for 22 months by the time he fights in March 2018, and that’s IF he fights in that month. It wouldn’t surprise me if Khan pushes back his comeback to the summer or even the second half of 2018. If Khan decides he wants to do more traveling around the globe, I think he’ll have that as the top priority over his boxing career. It’s too bad Khan has wasted his career by doing nothing since losing to Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson in 2011 and 2012. When Khan loses, he tends to disappear from the ring for long stretches.