By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) says he’ll be moving up to welterweight immediately after he avenges his loss to WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia in last 2013. Khan wants to capture Garcia’s two titles, prove that his loss to him was a fluke thing, and then look for more titles at welterweight.
Khan said on Sky Ringside “Maybe by the end of the year [2013] that fight [Danny Garcia] can happen. I’m not going to leave the light welterweight until I fight Garcia again and get my title back, [and] then I think it’ll be the right time to move up. At the moment, I make the 140 pound division quite easily. So Virgil [Hunter] is still advising me to stay at this weight.“
Of course, Hunter is advising Khan to stay at 140. He’s not going to tell him to move up to 147 so that Khan can be exposed against the bigger punchers at that weight. That would be crazy. Can you imagine Hunter telling Khan, a fighter with a history of dumping his trainers immediately each time he gets knocked out, to move up in weight to face big punchers?
No way is that happening, and I’d be surprised if Hunter ever advises Khan to move up in weight other than if he has an opportunity for a big money fight against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. Heck, you put Khan in against a normal welterweight with any kind of power, and we’re likely seeing Khan stretched out again looking at the lights.
What I find really amusing is that Khan is already talking about moving up in weight. What happened to all this talk about Khan wanting to clean out the light welterweight division? If he fights Garcia and gets lucky and beats him, there will still be guys like Lamont Peterson, Lucas Matthysse and Brandon Rios that Khan should fight if he’s really intent on cleaning up the light welterweight division.
You can’t clean out a division if you’re not fighting those guys. Khan did fight Peterson and he got beat, so that should be high on his list of someone that he needs to fight before moving up in weight.
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