By Scott Gilfoid: Oscar De La Hoya sees himself in World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s), according to the Sun It’s hard to imagine what he sees, because Khan still is almost totally unproven at this point in his career and has already been knocked out once against Breidis Prescott despite not having faced the cream of the crop in either the lightweight or the light welterweight divisions. De La Hoya, still, sees something in Khan that reminds him of his younger days. By the way, De La Hoya’s company Golden Boy Promotions just so happens to promote Khan.

I wonder if that has anything to do with De La Hoya seeing himself in Khan. De La Hoya says “When I look into Amir’s eyes, I can see something of myself in there. We were around the same age when he won our Olympic medals. When I saw Amir fight in Athens, I saw everything that a good fighter is supposed to have – talent of course, the speed, the power and especially the passion. Those are the attributes that helped me to become who I am in the sport of boxing. It is really a privilege for me to guide Amir Khan’s career into something special for the future.” Oh brother, De La Hoya is pouring it on a little thick, don’t you think?

I could see it if Khan had actually beaten someone by now, but the dude still hasn’t fought anyone after six years as a pro. He went after Andriy Kotelnik and picked up the WBA title, but he pretty much picked out the weakest fighter of the light welterweight champions to do that. It isn’t like Khan went after Timothy Bradley when going for a title.

At this point in De La Hoya’s career, when he was 23, De La Hoya was unbeaten and was fighting guys like Julio Cesar Chavez and Darryl Tyson. De La Hoya didn’t lose for the first time until 1999, when he was beaten by Felix Trinidad in a close 12 round majority decision defeat.
De La Hoya says “Not too many fighters can win multiple championships in multiple divisions. Amir Khan has the ability to become a super champion, a legend. And that’s what really attracted me to him. He has that ‘it’ factor – Talent, passion, the looks and the charisma.” A legend? I’d like to see that happen. I’m not holding my breath waiting for Khan to win another world title.

Oh, I guess he can if he spots someone that is vulnerable and there for the taking. But the problem is there aren’t any vulnerable champions right now in the light welterweight division. If Khan wants to win a second and third time, he’s going to have to probably move back down to lightweight to make it happen, because I think he’ll get smoked if he fights Devon Alexander and Bradley, the other light welterweight champions.