By Scott Gilfoid: Negotiations with the recently knocked out Josesito Lopez has fallen apart with former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan after Lopez reportedly had zero interest in draining down to close to 140 in order to make the catchweight that Khan wanted, according to the mirror.co.uk.
Lopez, who previously fought at 140, is now campaigning as a welterweight and it would be too hard for him to drain down to fight Khan close to the 140 pound division. As such, the 32-year-old Humberto Soto is now looking like the guy that will be facing Khan now. Golden Boy Promotions just needs Showtime to say yes to Soto as an opponent.
Soto looked horrible in beating 2nd tier fighter Silverio Ortiz last Saturday night in Mexico. Hopefully, the Showtime executives don’t take the time to see what they’ll be getting if they agree to Soto because they’ll likely turn him down as a potential candidate to face Khan.
If Showtime says yes to Soto then Khan will be getting his second easy fight on his three-fight contract with the network. He fought a 2nd tier lightweight named Carlos Molina last December in his first fight of his three fight contract with Showtime, and that was a massacre with Khan beating Molina badly from start to finish until the fight was halted after the 10th.
Khan’s fans believe Showtime will agree to let Khan have another mismatch with the promise of Khan’s third fight of his contract being against Danny Garcia. They believe it’s worth it for Showtime to get two bad fights from Khan if the third is going to be a good one. I don’t know if I agree with that belief.
If you’re Showtime and your job is to be televising competitive fights to the American boxing public, then they’re not doing their job if they let Khan – or any other main event fighter – to be matched up against week, non-top tier ranked fighters for two-thirds of their contracts with the network.
Soto was a good fighter at super featherweight and lightweight, but he’s not the same guy at light welterweight and he’s starting to show serious age at 32. I don’t think this is a good fight for Showtime and for the boxing public, even if the next fight after this is against Danny Garcia.
The fights that Showtime should be agreeing to for Khan are as follows:
Ajose Olusegun
Breidis Prescott
Marcos Maidana
Lucas Matthysse
At the end of the day, Showtime will likely say yes to Khan fighting Soto and the fight will almost surely be a one-sided fight with Khan dominating the shorter, slower, and much older Soto. Matthysse easily beat Soto last year in a 5th round knockout, and Showtime should have seen this fight and dismissed Soto as a good opponent for Khan.
From the fans’ perspective, it does them no good to have the premium networks like Showtime and HBO showing fights that are less than competitive right off the bat. Boxing fans want to see competitive
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