By Duke Pahulu: Once Floyd Mayweather Jr disposed of Canelo Alvarez, the talk went straight into who is going to be the next guy come Cinco de Mayo. Danny Garcia made a great case in his win against Lucas Matthysee. One name that popped up was Amir Khan. Even though Khan is trying to rebuild his career after the KO loss from Garcia, his last outing against Julio Diaz left a lot of questions.
Diaz was a former lightweight titlist who has seen his best days but Khan couldn’t beat him without getting touched with the left hook. It’s disturbing to see Khan not exercising any sort of defense on the inside. Virgil Hunter was hired to keep Amir Khan out of those situations.
Freddie Roach couldn’t keep Amir Khan from lingering on the inside. I believe since the big right hand he took from Marcos Maidana, Khan foolishly thought he can take it from the best.
What he didn’t factor in was the fact that Joe Cortez kept him from getting knocked out by Maidana. Khan rode that thought all the way to the Peterson bout. Before the fight, the only man to beat Peterson was Tim Bradley. And he done so by boxing. I remember Peterson hurting Bradley on the inside with a body shot and Bradley decided to box and shut him down for the rest of the fight.
The blueprint was there and Khan had the tools to do the same but decided to stay on the inside. You can argue all you want with who really won the fight but you can’t argue that Khan should have boxed more to secure the W. And with Garcia, it was well documented that Khan was a sucker for a hard left hook.
All Khan had to do was keep away from the hook by cranking out the jab and controlling distance. But instead he threw combinations with no regard to defense and lingered on the inside. If you watched the left hook, Danny Garcia isn’t looking. That’s because Khan kept his head in the same position every time he threw shots within distance.
I know I’m making a case for not making a Floyd-Khan fight but all those fights made Khan a big name in the UK where Floyd can milk ppv numbers in a showdown. Even though Garcia is more deserving at this point, Khan can leapfrog him with a win over Devon Alexander.
When the Alexander-Khan fight was first proposed, I thought Khan was going to get mopped up. But Alexander doesn’t have world class power and is a southpaw to where Khan doesn’t have to worry about a left hook from the front hand. If Hunter convinces Khan to jab, control distance and keep his wits about him when he’s on the inside after throwing the right hand, he can pull out a victory.
So Khan could say he’s not happy about the Alexander fight all he wants but its the easiest route to a Floyd showdown. Keith Thurman, Jesus Soto Karass and Kell Brook are all three orthodox fighters that have solid left hooks. Beating up another bum isn’t going to get Floyd’s attention. He only fights those coming off career wins.
Getting off the deck to beat Julio Diaz isn’t going to do the trick. He’s got to take the Alexander fight and box him to keep his Floyd hopes alive. Khan will lose to Floyd but at least Khan will get his one wish of fighting the best fighter out there.
Plus Floyd needs someone who can bring some numbers. Garcia did a great job as champ but no one is clamoring to watch him fight. Khan moves the needle in the UK and Floyd knows that.
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