Khan wants next fight in UK in April

By Boxing News - 01/21/2013 - Comments

khan4532By William Mackay: With his last fight against lightweight Carlos Molina a disappointment bringing in less than spectacular ticket sales in the United States, former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) will be taking his next fight to the UK to fight a still to be determined opponent in April.

Khan said to Sky Sports News “I would love the fight to be in England, so I’m working with Golden Boy in America to try and get it there. It’s been a long time since I fought in the UK and I love fighting in the UK. I’ve got a loyal fanbase over here.”

Khan hasn’t fought in the UK since beating light welterweight Paul McCloskey in April 2011 in a one-sided mismatch in Manchester, England. It wasn’t one of Khan’s better performances, and in hindsight he should have thought twice about fighting a slick fighter like McCloskey. However, that was Khan’s first fight after a grueling 12 round decision win over Marcos Maidana in December 2010, and Golden Boy didn’t want to match Khan against anyone with power because how much punishment Khan had taken against Maidana. The result of that was the selection of McCloskey.

Khan’s April fight could be against former WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko. That’s the fight that Golden Boy is looking to negotiate for Khan. However, they’ll have to give Senchenko a big offer to get him to agree to it because he’s also in the running for a possible Pacquiao tune-up fight in April.

Senchenko is a relatively safe pick for Khan on the account of Senchenko having been recently stopped by Paulie Malignaggi last year. Senchenko can punch at times, but he’s really not the kind of fighter that will cause Khan too many problems.

Where Khan is going to have problems is later on this year when and if he faces Danny Garcia in a rematch. That’s going to be tough for Khan if Golden Boy makes that fight because Garcia has a lot of power and he’ll likely expose Khan’s weak chin again.



Comments are closed.