By William Mackay: Dan Rafael is reporting that that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said that Amir Khan vs. Danny Garcia is a done deal for July 14th in either Anaheim or Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rafael said this on his twitter: “Richard Schaefer says @AmirKingKhan vs @DannySwift is a done deal for July 14, location TBA (Anaheim or Mandalay Bay).”

What I want to know is how Golden Boy was able to get this fight lined up without the 24-year-old Garcia being stripped of his title by the World Boxing Council, because he’s supposed to be defending his title against his mandatory challenger Ajose Olusegun. It looks like one of several things happened: A. Olusegun was given a step aside payment by Golden Boy B. the WBC was persuaded by Golden Boy to let Garcia bypass his mandatory C. Khan was told that he’d be getting one of his two lost titles back by the IBF or WBA, which would make the Garcia fight a unification bout. In unification bouts, the champion is often given permission to bypass his mandatory challengers.

Khan really wants to capture a final title before he moves up in weight to the 147 pound division. He somehow sees another title win as something that would validate him as being the best fighter in the division, but I can’t see it proving much other than him being able to beat a guy that looked terrible against a shot to pieces Erik Morales. That’s who Garcia recently defeated last March by a 12 round decision to capture the World Boxing Council light welterweight title. However, Morales, looking flabby and out of shape, was still able to break Garcia’s nose with his jabs and give him a lot of problems. I wasn’t impressed at all with Garcia, and I think a lot of guys would beat him if given the chance. I think Garcia is mighty lucky that he’s getting the payday fight against Khan because I think Garcia would have lost to Olusegun and not gotten very much money for the fight.

Also on the card will be a heavyweight bout between Johnathon Banks and Seth Mitchell. Although both fighters are considered contenders, this fight is a mismatch because Banks little more than a cruiserweight with a weak chin and poor stamina fighting at heavyweight. He doesn’t belong at this weight in my view, and he won’t last long against Mitchell unless he can run or come up with some power. Banks can punch a little, but I just don’t think he’s got the power needed to stop Mitchell in this fight. Mitchell was hurt by Chazz Witherspoon in the 1st round recently, but was able to rally to score a stoppage in the 3rd round when Witherspoon ran out of gas and stopped punching. If Banks can jump on Mitchell in the same way that Witherspoon did, he could possible get an early stoppage but I’m not counting on it.