By Sean McDaniel: Unbeaten EBU lightweight champion John Murray (30-0, 18 KO’s) is being looked at as a potential opponent for World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) on April 16th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. Khan’s promoter Richard Schaefer has also been looking at Paul McCloskey and Lamont Peterson.
However, those two fighters have been said to what too much money. A fight with Murray, 26, might be more to Khan’s liking, because if they can agree on the money, Khan would have a fighter with an unbeaten record facing him and one that is fairly popular in the UK. Some boxing fans believe that Murray will some day be a champion in the lightweight division after WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez moves up in weight. But as good as Murray is as a lightweight, he will be over-matched against Khan’s better size and hand speed.
Murray is somewhat slow, even for a lightweight standards. He’s also not the hugest puncher, which is a big plus because Khan’s chin is vulnerable against big punchers. Khan just survived a fight with Marcos Maidana and was stunned in the later rounds and pretty well beaten up by the Argentinian.
Khan’s promoters want an easier fight this time around against a weak puncher so that Khan isn’t knocked out before they can get a good money fight against the Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander bout later on this year.
Breidis Prescott, who owns a 1st round knockout over Khan in the past, is perhaps a much more compelling fight for Khan given how easily he beat Khan last time. However, Khan’s handlers don’t seem to want anything to do with Prescott now. It seems as if they feel that the taller, stronger Prescott is all wrong for Khan. He’s someone that could end the Khan hype machine just as it’s starting to pick up steam. It’s safe to say that Khan will never be allowed to fight Prescott ever again. Khan is probably going to be positioned against lesser punchers for the remainder of his career.
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