By Ivan Sanchez: Frank Warren has sent a clear message to British lightweight prospect, John Murray, stating that he will not fight Amir Khan. Warren claims that the Khan camp offered to fight Murray and the Manchester man never responded to the propersition. ”We made an offer to John and they never came back, so that is dead in the water now”, Warren told the Manchester Evening News.

Today, news surfaced that Amir Khan has confirmed he will be fighting Dmitriy Salita, his number one challenger, on December 5th this year, in Newcastle. On paper, Salita brings just as much to the table as Murray, if not more. He is undefeated in thirty one bouts, although the American based Ukrainian is unproven as of yet. Beating Murray would prove nothing at this point in time for Khan. Murray is still at domestic level, fighting D class fighters, whereas, Khan has gone on to win a world title against a solid champion in Kotelnik and he has beaten Mexican legend, Marco Antonio Barrera.

Khan’s promoter, Frank Warren went on to say, ”We don’t want any cry baby stuff now, saying they want this and that. They had their opportunity and didn’t even respond to it. He was on the list. He was one of the guys we were talking to and we are still talking to a couple more at the moment. John was a possibility, providing he could have got rated. That was a fight I defiantly would have wanted.”

On this occasion, I have to agree with Frank Warren. Khan is not going to beg Murray to fight him. Khan is the more proven fighter and he is the one that would sell most of the tickets. Murray can not call the shots on this one. Murray’s trainer, Joe Gallagher spoke of the possible bout after Murray’s fight, ”It’s one of the biggest fights in British boxing now. People want Ricky Hatton v Khan, but with Murray and Khan you’ve got two hungry fighters like Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank. Not only will we fight him, but we will give him a re-match because he will need it.”