By Alan Fraser: World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) can be likened to a jar of Marmite. On one hand, a mass of fans follow him blindly pledging their support in the name of Khan being British and him being an exciting prospect. However, in the UK there exists an equal amount of boxing fans who wish to see more evidence of his ability and talent before believing the hype surrounding him. Additionally, there are a large number of fans who have became disheartened with the Khan story so far, and it is the opinion of such fans that I will be looking at in this article and the reasons why.

Firstly, let’s look at Khans win over Marco Antonio Barrera. At the tender age of 22, young fighters will often fight more experience ones in order to gain ring experience and that is good. Now for the part that leaves a sour taste in the mouth of the hardcore boxing fan. The Khan-Barrera fight should have been ruled a no contest due to the cut sustained to Barrera. However, the fight was allowed to go into the fourth round in order to let Khan achieve the win and it is decisions like this that breed resentment towards Khan. Additionally, this “win” is now used to promote Khan in such a way that almost makes hardcore boxing fans cringe. In the build up and promotion of Khans present fights, we repeatedly hear of Khans “victory” over Barrera, almost as if they believe that Khan beat a Barrera in his prime.

Secondly, people feel that Amir Khan has benefitted unfairly from Frank Warren`s power in the boxing world. Khan would has never achieved British, European or Commonwealth belts was given a world title shot on the back of his fights against low quality opposition. Many people feel that Khan did not deserve a world title shot. Additionally, people are disillusioned with Khan winning a world title against the poor quality, paper champion Andreas Kotelnik. The win over Kotelnik did nothing to convince the British people of Khans ability, simply because they didn’t feel that he deserved the opportunity in the first place and is further cemented by the fact that he only had to overcome the poor quality Kotelnik.

Thirdly, the fact that Amir Khan is now a world title belt holder has merely served to increase public pressure and calls for him to face the division’s top fighters. At the age of 22, most boxers are concentrating on building up their experience with a view to a world title shot in the future. However, Khan at age 22 is a world title holder and therefore people expect him to challenging the best in the division. It simply is not acceptable for Khan to absorb the praise given to him by his fans for “achieving” a world title whilst at the same time use his young age as an excuse for not taking on the best. Khan cannot have it both ways.

Fourthly, the fact that Amir Khan did not show the character and conviction to demand a rematch with Breidis Prescott served to further question Khan. A rematch with Prescott would have put any doubts to bed; but Khan failed to demand that rematch and instead went on to fight more low quality opposition in Oisin Fagan and an aging great in Barrera. Additionally, the fact that fans must pay PPV money to watch such poor fights merely serves to breed resentment of Khan further. British fans simply do not want to pay to watch Khan fight low quality opposition on PPV.

So what then for the future? The talk of a fight with Malignaggi would represent a step in the right direction for Khan. Although Malignaggi does not possess the power of other fighters in the division, he does possess quality boxing skills recently displayed against Juan Diaz. A fight against Malignaggi represents a chance for Khan to fight one of the better quality opponents, without too much risk of taking a beating. Additionally, Malignaggi could be the gate keeper for Khan to become successful in America. Although Malignaggi is not very highly regarded in the US, he is however regarded as of a good pedigree and this would be a good step up fight for Khan.