By William Mackay: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya believes that WBA Super World light welterweight champion can not only be one of the best fighters in the light welterweight division but one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the entire world. This comes after Khan had to struggle to get a win over Marcos Maidana last December. De La Hoya believes that Khan proved himself in that fight instead of showing that Khan has some serious flaws that likely prevent him from beating the better fighters in the sport.
De La Hoya told Sky Ringside that he thinks Khan will be of the best fighters in the entire world, not just Europe.
For Khan to prove De La Hoya right, Khan will have to beat WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley in July, and then beat Maidana in a rematch with a different referee working the fight. There’s still too many questions about Khan’s chin from that fight, and the referee made a nuisance of himself by stepping in over and over again to separate Khan and Maidana in the last three rounds when Khan was getting pounded against the ropes. The constant stopping of the action favored Khan and seemed to get him out of a terrible jam he was in during those rounds. The win didn’t prove that Khan had a good chin because he ran for the first nine rounds without stop. When he finally did slow down in the 10th, he was badly hurt by a right hand. The rest of the fight was Khan getting beaten up by Maidana. Khan held almost the entire time without being penalized.
I don’t agree that Khan will be a pound-for-pound number #1 fighter or anything close to that. Khan seems to be more of a media creation to me than a legitimate top fighter.
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