What are the odds Khan faces a weak puncher in his next fight?

By Boxing News - 02/08/2012 - Comments

Image: What are the odds Khan faces a weak puncher in his next fight?By William Mackay: It’s looking more and more like IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson will decide against facing Amir Khan in a rematch so Peterson can instead fight face Juan Manuel Marquez at the Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas with the possibility to get a fight against Manny Pacquiao in November.

That offer is much better deal than Peterson fighting Khan in a rematch in Los Angeles in front of mostly Khan’s fans and likely with a referee that lets Khan shove him and grab him in head locks throughout the fight.

So with Peterson like off the table, just who will Khan fight? He’s talking about moving up in weight for his next fight but I don’t know of any big names he can fight. He obviously wants to fight a named fighter, but the only one that I can see him getting is 40-year-old Shane Mosley.

The problem there is that Mosley may end up fighting WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto undercard on May 5th. Alvarez is a future star in the U.S and I hate to say it, but a bigger priority than Khan.

Alvarez may end up being a crossover star like Oscar De La Hoya at some point in the future if he can keep winning. Khan will never be able to attract a large following among Mexican fans due to his running and fouling style of fighting. It just won’t happen. As such, Mosley is probably off the table for Khan.

Khan’s next opponent will likely be pooled from this bunch:

• Paulie Malignaggi – I know Khan already beat him but that was at light welterweight and Khan and Golden Boy will likely be desperate to get a fighter with a name – and no power – and there just isn’t many weak punchers in the welterweight division right now that will be free for Khan’s next fight.

• Carson Jones
• Shawn Porter
• Luis Carlos Abregu
• Kevin Bizier
• Rafal Jaciewicz
• Jorge Paez Jr.
• Freddy Hernandez
• Diego Chaves
• Frankie Gavin
• Anton Novikov

None of those guys are big punchers and if Khan can’t take their shots than he has no business fighting at welterweight.



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