Warren: Roach is wrong, Khan will not fight Murray!

By Liam Santiago: If like me, you were getting excited when Freddie Roach said a mega fight between John Murray and Amir Khan is very possible for their next fight, unfortunately, it won’t happen. Frank Warren has said that he is in talks with the number one challenger for Khan’s WBA belt, Dimitiy Salita. If that deal can not be done, the Khan camp will have to look else where.

I said in my last article on this subject, when Roach said the Murray/Khan fight could happen, that I admired Khan’s desire to go after the best instead of ‘legend bashing’. However, I was wrong. Khan will not fight Murray. Simple as that. When Roach told Fight Hype that Khan might fight Murray next, I was shocked, but at the same time Khan gained a lot of my respect. But, it is now clear that Khan had no intention in fighting Murray, and probably never will.

Salita is the number one mandatory challenger for Khan’s title, so it makes sense to fight him and it should be a great fight. But, lets remember, first and foremost boxing is a business. Khan vs Murray would make financial sense. It would draw in people from every corner of Britain for sure. Rumours were that numbers were low for the Kotelnik fight on box office so i thought the Khan camp would see sense and look for an exiting fight such as Murray/Khan that would draw in the hundreds and thousands.

As Amir Khan will be fighting on box office, and the public will have to pay £15 to see the bout, we expect an exiting fight, one that we want to see. If we are paying £15, why can we not see Khan vs Murray? It makes financial sense for the two fighters and it makes sense for every fan of either fighter. Can you imagine the outcry from Hatton fans if he said, I’m not fighting the best or who my fans want to see. He would never live it down.

In my opinion, if a fighter is not at the level where he can fight the very best at his weight, then he should not fight on box office. We see Hatton and Haye fight on box office, looking for the best opposition they can. Why is Khan different? Of course the critics of my article will say ”Khan is only twenty two”. ”Khan’s still maturing”. Well my answer is, why is he on box office if he is not ready to give the fans what they want?