By William Mackay: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) is setting his sights on a money fight against unbeaten Tim Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s) if he’s able to pull off a big upset this Saturday night in his fight against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Khan, who has a fight scheduled on July 14th against WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia, seems to be making the same mistake that he’s made in the past by looking over his shoulder at other fighters instead of worrying about the guys he’s got in front of him. Khan did that when he was knocked out in round by Breidis Prescott in 2008, and then he did again recently when he was whipped by Lamont Peterson last December. Now he’s doing it yet again by eying a bout with Bradley when the chances are high that Khan will get exposed yet again when he faces the 24-year-old Garcia.
Khan told the Telegraph.co.uk “I would love to fight Bradley at 147, if he somehow manages to come through. I don’t think he’s going to beat Manny…Manny’s not performed at his best in his last few fights to that might be on Bradley’s side.”
Bradley could win but I wouldn’t go getting excited about a fight with him if I were Khan. He’s not going to waste time fighting a guy like Khan who hasn’t established himself as a star in the United States. Khan was starting to win some fans over recently in the U.S. but then he went and got beat again. Those fans will not have forgotten the sight of Khan running around the ring against Peterson, shoving him, putting him in head locks and bending his head forward all night long. Khan looked like he was panicking big time. If anything, Khan likely lost major fans in the U.S after that fight, because it was god awful bad to the extreme. And Khan wants to talk about fighting Bradley after that kind of performance? Nope, it’s not going to happen I’m afraid. if Bradley gets past Pacquiao, he’ll face him again because there’s a rematch clause in their contract that will force Bradley to fight Pacquiao again.
You won’t have to force Bradley, because he definitely wants to fight Pacquiao. I’m sure he’d like to fight Pacquiao once a year for the remainder of his career because it would be so profitable. A bout against Khan wouldn’t be a huge money fight for Bradley, so Khan should put a sock in it and pray that he doesn’t get beaten by Garcia next month.
If he loses to Garcia, Khan is going to be in deep, deep trouble. I don’t know how HBO will want to continue to show Khan’s fights if he loses again. The same for Sky or one of the other networks in the UK. You can’t lose as many times as Khan and still remain relevant with boxing fans.
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