By William Mackay: According to news from The Sun, World Boxing Association Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) and his promotional team have offered former WBC lightweight champion Joel Casamayor £400,000 to fight Khan on July 31st. The fight, if Casamayor agrees to take it, would take place at the O2 Arena in London. It will be the 23-year-old Khan’s 3rd title defense of his WBA light welterweight title, which he won last year with a 12 round unanimous decision over Andriy Kotelnik. Khan wanted to fight WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana.
However, Maidana’s back is still injured and he can’t make it by the July 31st date. It would be a great if Maidana could have been ready by then, because with his big power, heavy pressure and excellent chin, he would be big problems for the sometimes fragile chinned Khan. Another opponent that Khan wanted to fight was WBO lightweight champion Michael Katsidis.
However, Katsidis is waiting on the outcome of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz fight on July 31st, and he wants to fight the winner of that fight. That’s a much more appealing fight for Katsidis because of the money he would receive in a fight with the winner of that bout. The other top light welterweights Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley have fights lined up already and aren’t available to fight Khan. Top contender Victor Ortiz would be a great match-up for Khan.
Ortiz fights for the same promoter – Golden Boy Promotions – as Khan, and it’s likely that Golden Boy doesn’t want to sacrifice either of these young fighters at this point against each other. Ortiz was already stopped last year in the 6th round by Maidana and it would be bad for his career if he were to get beaten by Khan. Likewise, Khan was taken out in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott in 2008, and Golden Boy doesn’t appear in any kind of rush to match Khan against a big slugger. Although Khan has been calling out Maidana recently, it’s easy to do because Maidana’s back is seriously injured and there was little chance that it would heal suddenly for him to accept Khan’s offer for a fight.
The choice of Casamayor is a curious one for Khan and Golden Boy, because Casamayor is getting up there in age at 38-years-old, and has fought only once in the past two years. Casamayor was stopped by Juan Manuel Marquez in September 2008. Casamayor rebounded from that defeat by defeating 2nd tier fighter Jason Davis by an eight round unanimous decision last November in 2009.
Casamayor turns 39 in July, making him the oldest fighter that Khan will have fought, coming in just ahead of 36-year-old Marco Antonio Barrera, who Khan beat by a 5 round technical decision in 2009. That doesn’t look good for Khan to be fighting a nearly 40-year-old fighter and who is three inches shorter than Khan at 5’7”. Khan fans will point out that Casamayor stopped Katsidis in the 10th round in March 2008.
That may be, but Casamayor didn’t look like the same fighter in his loss to Marquez. Casamayor took a lot of punishment in the Marquez fight and also in the Katsidis fight as well. If the name of the game is finding the best name available for Khan to fight, then Casamayor is the man for him.
However, if Khan’s promoters want to earn more respect from the knowledgeable boxing fans while at the same time developing Khan more as a fighter, they might want to at least put Khan in with a top light welterweight in his own class instead of selecting for a small fighter like Casamayor. That might make some boxing fans feel that Khan is being served up beatable fodder to keep him winning and moving forward for a potential mega fight down the road against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and/or Manny Pacquiao.
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