By Sean McDaniel: Undefeated lightweight contender Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) had some interesting observations about WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan. In an article at Independent.co.uk, Mitchell had this to say about Khan’s incident with a British model that he allegedly sent lewd text messages and photo:
“I am shocked and saddened to hear this stuff. If nothing else, what was he doing in a nightclub while preparing for a world title fight? Amir is a lovely fellow and we’ve been good mates but I think all the money and hype has gone to his head. He’s obviously let the Hollywood lifestyle get to his head. He’s beginning to believe his own publicity, even talking about fighting Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather next year. He’s not in their league. He’s too vulnerable. You can’t put muscles on your chin. If he couldn’t go a round with Breidis Prescott, he wouldn’t last two rounds with them. He’s just making himself look foolish and I feel gutted for him.”
More than a few boxing fans echo Mitchell’s thoughts about Khan. At this point in Khan’s career, he hasn’t shown anything that would suggest that he would be competitive with Mayweather or Pacquiao. Having been knocked out in one round by Prescott in 2008, it seems totally unrealistic for Khan to be taking Mayweather and Pacquiao. For Khan to be doing that, you would have at least expected him to have tried to avenge his defeat to Prescott.
However, Khan never did fight Prescott again. Khan passed up a chance to fight Marcos Maidana, the hard hitting WBA light welterweight interim champion, who has built up a large following among hardcore boxing fans. Khan could have fought Maidana but instead chose Paulie Malignaggi, a fighter with little power who has lost two out of his last four fights.
Khan apparently believes that the feather fisted Malignaggi is a tougher opponent than WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s), who Mitchell will be fighting on May 15th. That’s kind of hard to believe, because Katsidis is tough for anyone. He may have been beaten twice in his career but he really brings every time out.
Mitchell would like nothing better than to fight Khan in the future, but he doesn’t see it happening. He believes that Khan will be beaten by the time he gets to him. However, Mitchell thinks he’ll knock Khan out if they do fight some day.
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