By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan probably has a long ways to go before he’s seen as a premier mega fighter like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Khan may never reach that level for one reason or another. Khan will have to face a lot of tough fighters for him to get to that level, and not be put in with hand-picked soft opponents that are little threat to his fragile chin. Khan will be facing former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi on May 15th, at the Madison Square Garden, in New York. This is seen as a move that will give Khan a chance to show his stuff against an opponent with somewhat of a name on HBO.
This is a start for Khan of sorts, but it won’t do much for him if he continues to be spoon fed soft touches in the future. You can say what you want about Malignaggi being a good fighter and all, but the fact remains he has no power and has lost two out of his last four fights. If this is a tune-up for Khan, I can accept that. But he’s going to have to start stepping it up in the future against better fighters than this if he wants to win respect from fans.
I suppose the casual fans might enjoy seeing Khan face weak punchers his entire career, but I don’t know how he can manage to be steered around the light welterweight division to avoid all the good fighters that exist there. At some point, Khan will have to face someone that can actually fight and who has power, but when will that be? Ricky Hatton had a marvelous career and made a ton of money by being put in with guys that he could beat.
Hatton fought a 36-year-old Kostya Tszyu when he was at the end of his career and beat him. That win did a lot for Hatton, and he moved on to beat a handful of other decent fighters before he finally stepped it up against two great fighters – Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao – and was destroyed. It doesn’t matter now that he seems to have lost his drive for the sport. He’s already made a ton of money and doesn’t need to fight anymore.
Likewise, Khan has been fed an old Marco Antonio Barrera, 35, and beat him by a 5 round technical decision last year. Khan recently was attempting to fight another older, smaller fighter in Juan Manuel Marquez. However, Marquez didn’t like the looks of things and failed to sign a contract with Khan. Now, Khan is fighting Malignaggi, who technically is a contender but is seen as an opponent by fighters that want a low risk bout.
For Khan to win respect with fans, he’s going to have to face and beat the following fighters:
Marco Maidana
Timothy Bradley
Devon Alexander
Victor Ortiz
Kendall Holt
Ricardo Torres
Juan Urango
Victor Cayo
Lamont Peterson
I would have a lot of respect for Khan if he immediately started facing these fighters one after another once he gets by Malignaggi in May. But do I think Khan will fight those guys? No. Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach recently said that he would have to get a wheelbarrow full of money to fight Bradley, because he sees that as really tough fight for Khan. I agree.
I would be a tough fight for Khan to take, but he’s the one that wants to be a mega star like Pacquiao and Mayweather. If Khan just wants to be a guy that is known for having a Silver Medal in the 2004 Olympics, and who won the WBA light welterweight title against an opponent that many boxing fans feel was the weakest of the existing light welterweight champions available at the time that Khan, then that’s fine. But I think Khan might want to be more than that, at least I think he does.
I wish I could say that Khan’s management will let him fight any of the above fighters, because I think that would be a big step in the right direction for Khan in moving him in the direction of potentially becoming a star. Unfortunately, I don’t think that Khan will be put anywhere near those fighters for the time being. I think once Khan gets by Malignaggi, they’ll go after another old guy, someone like Nate Campbell. In fact, I’m almost certain that’s who they’ll go after next. Campbell has fought at lightweight until recently, and didn’t look good in his one fight at light welterweight.
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