Has Amir Khan proven yet that he deserves a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr?

By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) says he sees himself fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0, 25 KO’s) in 12 months. Khan feels that he’ll be ready to take on Mayweather at that point in his career. However, I don’t see Khan as being ready for a fight against Mayweather, not now and not in a year from now.

Khan survived his fight with Marcos Maidana in December, using a combination of referee breaks in the action, holding, running, shoving, and pushing down on the head of Maidana to get through the fight. A lot of referees would have likely take points off from Khan for all the holding he was doing, and definitely for the hard shoves he was giving Maidana when he would come in close to land shots.

Khan lucked out that referee Joe Cortez didn’t take points away from him for all of the fouls I saw Khan committing. Khan also got really lucky by having Cortez step in to break the action when Khan was getting hit while holding into Maidana. That really was a life saver for Khan.

But in looking at how poorly Khan fought against Maidana, I don’t think he’s going to be ready to fight Mayweather a year from now. He’s definitely not ready right now. If I was to choose between Khan and Maidana to put in with Mayweather right now, I would opt for Maidana.

He’s got the power, the size and the chin to give Mayweather problems. In contrast, Khan, with his running and holding style, would be like throwing Paulie Malignaggi in with Mayweather and expecting him to be competitive. Malignaggi wouldn’t be, and it would be a joke to watch Mayweather pick him apart.

Khan may talk a lot and say he wants that fight with Mayweather, but in terms of talent, he doesn’t belong in the same ring with him. I don’t think Khan belongs in the same ring with Timothy Bradley, who I feel is a lot better fighter by far than Khan. It would be laughable to see Khan in with Mayweather right now and even a year from now. Khan needs to be quiet about Mayweather and wait until he’s around 40 to start talking about fighting him.