By William Mackay: IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-1, 18 KO’s) says he’ll be fighting on December 10th against Lamont Peterson and then moving up to 147 to possibly take on Jessie Vargas, one of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s fighters in order to get a fight against Mayweather in his second fight of 2012.
Khan, like usual, thinks he’s got the style to beat Mayweather with his speed and boxing ability.
Speaking with the BBC Sport, Khan said “The fight against Floyd Mayweather is going to happen next year…I really think I got his number, because I got the technique and speed to beat Floyd Mayweather. You need skills and speed. You don’t go in there trying to knock him out. That will be a big fight next year hopefully. I’m planning on moving up to 147 and taking a warm up fight. And then jumping up to fight Floyd Mayweather. Floyd did say for him to fight me, I have to fight one of his gym fighters, Jessie Vargas, who he says is a good fighter. In my eyes, he [Vargas] got beat and didn’t impress [against Josesito Lopez] any of us. I’m happy if Floyd says I have to beat him to fight him. I’m going to go up to 147 and beat him [Vargas] and then fight Floyd Mayweather next year.”
I’m not sure if Khan is aware of this but the 22-year-old Vargas is a light welterweight, not a welterweight. It doesn’t make sense for Khan to move up to welterweight to fight a light welterweight like Vargas. Shouldn’t Khan just fight Vargas at light welterweight then move up and fight a legitimate welterweight if he’s actually serious about wanting to fight a warm up fight against a welterweight fighter like he said.
Fighting Vargas is just another light welterweight fight for Khan. I wonder if Khan thinks these things through or is he just coming up with the ideas on the fly during interviews. Vargas is a real threat to Khan at 140, but he’s not a 147 pounder.
Khan may have to take the fight with Vargas in order to get the Mayweather fight, because that’s something Floyd has talked about. However, fighting Vargas isn’t the same as fighting a welterweight, but I guess Khan will fight him at 147 and call him a welterweight anyway. It’s pretty silly, but it really doesn’t make any difference in the large scheme of things.
Honestly, Khan could fight Andre Berto or Victor Ortiz in his warm up fight at welterweight, and he’d STILL get destroyed by Mayweather. There’s just too much talent because Khan and Mayweather. It’s going to be sickening. But at least Khan will get his big payday and his trainer Freddie Roach will be training a fighter taking on Mayweather.
There’s nothing Roach can come up with to help Khan win this fight, because it’s unwinnable. Mayweather is far too good for a weak-chinned fighter like Khan. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Vargas didn’t knock Khan out and eliminate him from a Mayweather fight. If I’m Mayweather, I would drop the request for Khan to fight the hard hitting Vargas and let Khan fight the weak punching Peterson and whichever weak puncher that is picked out by Khan’s promoters from Golden Boy in his first fight at welterweight next year. Believe me, it won’t be anyone with even a hint of power. They’re not going to blow Khan’s big payday fight against Mayweather by putting him in with someone with power that can knock Khan cold and ruin things. They got to get the Mayweather fight, and get that big payday. After Khan gets knocked cold by Mayweather, hopefully they match Khan against live bodies instead of guys that have no power. I’d like to see Khan fight a rematch with Marcos Maidana, Breidis Prescott or take on some welterweights like Ortiz or Andre Berto. I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen. Khan will probably go after the WBA welterweight paper champion Vyacheslav Senchenko, a fighter without much power so that Khan can pick up a belt without the risk of taking another loss. From there, it’ll probably be milking time for couple of years against weak opposition.
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