Schaefer still pushing for Khan-Alexander in Dubai or UK

By Boxing News - 08/12/2013 - Comments

khan43435By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander (25-0, 14 KO’s) isn’t keen on the idea of fighting former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) in the Dubai or the UK for obvious reasons. However, that’s not stopping Khan’s promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions in looking to place the Khan-Alexander fight in one of those countries on December 7th.

Schaefer believes he can convince Alexander to agree to fighting in one of those places for the right money. In other words, Alexander, the champion, would be agreeing to fight in front of a large pro-Khan crowd of fans if he says he says yes to Dubai or the UK.

Schaefer said to ESPN “I have talked to Al [Haymon] and Kevin [Cunningham] and they said if it’s the right deal that Devon Alexander will pack his bags and travel. But if the money is the same in Dubai as in the U.S., then he feels as the champion he doesn’t need to travel to Dubai…I discussed going to the UK with Devon’s team, and it comes down to the same thing, if it means substantially more money.”

My advice is for Alexander to say no to both places, because he doesn’t need to be putting abnormal amounts of pressure on himself to have to potentially go out there and knock Khan out cold just to get the win if he goes to Dubai or the UK.

The reason is Alexander would be like the visiting guy, and Khan would be the equivalent of the home fighter, and that means a lot of screaming from the fans for every punch that Khan throws.

We already know how judges are sometime subconsciously influenced by screaming fans when they cheering like mad for the home fighters. For this reason, Alexander needs to say no to the Khan fight unless it’s in the United States, because Alexander isn’t a knockout puncher, and he’s not likely going to be able to KO Khan.

If Alexander can’t get a KO, then I see him losing a controversial decision if he stages the fight in Khan’s home territory. I mean, if this was Lucas Matthysse, Danny Garcia, or even Marcos Maidana we were talking about, I’d say by all means go ahead and fight Khan in the UK or Dubai, because the fight wouldn’t go to the scorecards due to those guys knocking Khan out.

I think Maidana would have knocked Khan out in their fight in 2010 if referee Joe Cortez hadn’t gotten in the way of Maidana so many times after he had Khan hurt in the 10th round.



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