By William Mackay: Trainer Freddie Roach and Golden Boy Promotion are hoping to make a huge star out of WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) in the future along the lines of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Is it possible for Khan to accomplish this task in the near or distant future? Pacquiao toiled away for 14 years in the pro ranks before he recently became a huge mega star in the past year after beating Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in three consecutive fights.
And Mayweather Jr. fought for 11 years as a pro before he finally became a huge mega star with a win over De La Hoya in 2007. Khan has fought for only five years in the pro ranks and was drilled into the canvas by Breidis Prescott in one round in 2008. Khan has picked up the World Boxing Association light welterweight title with a 12 round decision win over Andriy Kotelnik in July 2009, but looked fragile in the process, moving continuously against a non puncher.
For Khan to become a mega star, he will have to beat some of the best fighters in boxing. That’s how it’s done. This is obviously why Roach is so eager to match Khan against Ricky Hatton, who some boxing fans feel is a totally shot fighter. It would give Khan a boost up in the minds of fans and make a name for him, even if it’s against a fighter that some people see as shot. However, Khan will need more than fights against Hatton, which may not ever happen, and Paulie Malignaggi. Khan needs to take on and beat the best fighters in the division like Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Kendall Holt and Marcos Maidana.
A lot of fans see Khan as a fighter that has faced hand-picked opponents during his five year pro career, carefully matched to avoid dangerous punchers. It’s hard to argue against that belief in looking at who Khan as faced in the past two years since being destroyed by Prescott in 2008. Since that time, Khan has fought Oisin Fagan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Kotelnik and Dmitriy Salita.
The fight against Barrera would have been good if Barrera wasn’t an old 35, and still relevant. Barrera had looked poor in moving up in weight form super featherweight to lightweight and looked small and slow at lightweight. However, a win is a win, but the fight was hardly an impressive one because Barrera was cut early in the 2nd round because of a head butt.
With blood streaming into his eyes, Barrera was barely able to see. Somehow the fight was allowed to continue just long enough for it to go to the cards in the 5th round and Khan subsequently won by a 5th round technical decision. The decision to move up in weight to fight Kotelnik, who some saw as a paper champion, didn’t help Khan’s case.
If Khans wants to be a PPV star in the United States, he’s going to have to take the tougher fights and not be positioned against fading stars or weak punchers. There are rumors that Khan might not fight interim WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana next and will instead fight Paulie Malignaggi. I think this would be a mistake.
I don’t see a fight against Malignaggi doing anything for Khan. I do think it will cause knowledgeable boxing fans to see Khan as a cherry picker because they think he’s trying to avoid big punchers since his knockout loss to Prescott. By choosing to fight Malignaggi rather than Maidana, this could strengthen the belief that some boxing fans have about Khan being a ducker.
I don’t see Khan becoming a mega star the easy way by taking on fading fighters or ones with zero power to hurt him. Khan is going to have to beat the best fighters in the division and do this for a number of years before he becomes a huge pay per view star in the United States. I have my doubts that Khan can accomplish this with his weak chin. His offense is fine, but he seems top fragile to hold up under the wear and tear of facing the likes of Maidana, Victor Ortiz, Bradley, Holt and Alexander.
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