By Dan Ambrose Amir Khan’s father Shah Khan thinks that fighters are trying to get too much money for fights with his son, the WBA light welterweight champion. Apparently, Paulie Malignaggi, who Khan recently defeated by a 11th round stoppage last weekend, asked for more money for his fight with Khan and even threatened to pull out of the fight. Although he ended up getting £430,000 compared to Khan’s £650,000, but can you blame him?
If you’re fighting a guy that’s making big bank, it’s only natural that a fighter would want to get a part of the big money from the gate and from the television rights. Khan isn’t doing this on his own; he needs a somewhat popular opponent to draw fans to his fights and give the perfection that he’s as good as gold. In an article at the Mirror, Shah says “Maybe some people see Amir as a bit of a cash cow because they all seem to want more when it comes to negotiating fees for a fight. They know he is big box office and they want to cash in on him. As soon as his name is mentioned, they demand extra.”
What Shah might not be understanding is that the opposition that Khan is being matched against are lesser fighters than him, who stand to lose a lot in being badly beaten. This isn’t like they are being done a favor by getting beaten in front of large crowds and in front of huge television audiences. Why wouldn’t they want to get paid well for getting beaten? I’m sure if the shoe was on the other foot and Khan was facing someone like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, two fighters he wouldn’t a ghost of a chance to beat, he would want to get paid well too. Would they in turn say that Khan is seeing them as a cash cow because he’s asking for a lot of money to get drilled into the canvas? Of course they wouldn’t because would understand that Khan is helping to draw fans, and would be losing a lot by getting spanked in front of a worldwide audience.
Shah says “Boxers should want to fight Amir regardless of all that.” So, over-matched fighters should just take whatever is given to them by Khan without asking for more, even when they have little chance to beat him in the first place? Okay, that sounds good.
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