By Jason Kim: Trainer Freddie Roach wants Floyd Mayweather Jr. as future opponent for his fighter Amir Khan in the worst way. Roach doesn’t seem interested in letting Khan mature as a fighter and prove that last weekend’s uneven performance against Marcos Maidana was just another fluke. Roach wants Khan to fight Mayweather next year. Khan defeated Maidana last weekend by a 12 round decision but was staggered multiple times by Maidana in the 10th, and unceasingly battered in the remaining rounds of the fight.
To be sure, Khan won enough of the earlier rounds to get the decision, but it wasn’t good to see Khan getting really pummeled in the last three rounds if you’re one of the people who think he’s the next Manny Pacquiao. After the fight, Roach said “I hope Mayweather comes to the table first. I have two guys [Pacquiao and Khan] who I believe can beat him.” Roach hasn’t had any luck in getting a fight lined up between Pacquiao and Mayweather, so it looks like he’s going to cast a wider net by pushing for a bout between Mayweather and Khan.
Amir has talent and speed but he doesn’t have much experience against top fighters, at least ones that have decent power. It may be too early for a Mayweather-Khan fight right now. Roach wants the bout perhaps knowing it will make Khan a star even if he gets blown out by Mayweather. The attendance for Saturday’s fight wasn’t what they were expecting for the fight with huge areas of the arena with no fans. The fight could still be staged in the UK and do well there, but it’s not likely that Mayweather would want to travel all the way there to fight someone like Khan, who hasn’t established himself as a star in the U.S market yet.
Mayweather would be doing Roach and Khan a huge favor by fighting Khan at this point. It might be better to wait until Khan proves he’s the best fighter in the light welterweight division by beating Devon Alexander, Timothy Bradley, Lamont Peterson, Victor Ortiz and Zab Judah before wasting time fighting him now and not getting the kind of pay-per-view numbers that a fight like this would bring in if they wait awhile for Khan to prove himself. Ideally, Khan needs to fight a rematch with Maidana and prove that his poor showing in the last three rounds was just a fluke, like the loss to Breidis Prescott.
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