Khan names opponent list for next fight: Malignaggi, Broner, Porter & Peterson

By Boxing News - 02/26/2014 - Comments

malignaggi5656By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) is now actively looking to line up his Plan B opponent after being bypassed by Floyd Mayweather Jr. for his May 3rd fight. Khan is interested in fighting one of these names for his next fight in April or May: Paulie Malignaggi, Lamont Peterson, Shawn Porter or Adrien Broner, according to BoxNation. Peterson and Malignaggi are retread opponents for Khan, as he stopped Malignaggi in the 11th round in 2010. Khan was beaten by Peterson by a 12 round decision in 2011.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Khan were to fight Malignaggi next fight, because that would be a safe fight for Khan to keep him winning until Mayweather gives him a shot. With the news yesterday from Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer that Mayweather still is interested in fighting Khan, but not for May, it would make sense for Khan to take a soft touch like Malignaggi for his next fight instead of someone that could beat him.

Malignaggi has no power to speak of, and Khan wouldn’t have to worry about being knocked out or knocked around like he was in his losses to Breidis Prescott and Danny Garcia. With a win over Malignaggi, Khan would then have a scalp to add to his resume to show the casual boxing fans that he’s still relevant due to Malignaggi being ranked #2 WBA, #4 WBC, #4 WBO, #5 IBF in the welterweight division. Hardcore fans would see it as a cherry-picking move by Khan in facing a guy he already beat, but if the idea is to give Khan a safe fight in order to put him in position for a fight against Mayweather for later in 2014 or in early 2015, then Malignaggi would be the perfect guy for Khan to fight. Golden Boy obviously isn’t going to feed Khan to Keith Thurman because he would likely knock Khan out with ease after 2 of 3 rounds, and that would ruin it for him and Golden Boy.

Adrien Broner is an unrealistic option because Golden Boy Promotions don’t appear interested in matching him against Khan for some reason. Maybe it would cost too much money to get them in the ring with each other, and there’s no way you could ask boxing fans to pay to see these guys; not with Khan having been out of the ring for a year and Broner having lost his last fight to Marcos Maidana.

Shawn Porter holds the IBF welterweight title after beating Devon Alexander last December. Porter is technically a champion, but he doesn’t have the fan base to make a Khan-Porter fight worth watching. If Khan were to fight him, he’d be just looking to get the paper title so that he can use that as a way of making himself look more legit in the eyes of fans and Mayweather. To be sure, it would give Mayweather more cover for selecting Khan if he were to have the IBF strap in his possession.

Lamont Peterson might be too good for Golden Boy to take a chance at putting Khan in with him again. Peterson showed pretty clearly in 2011 that he was too tough for Khan to handle, and that’s why we saw Khan using all kinds of tactics to keep from getting knocked out like shoving Peterson and pulling down on his head over and over again each round. Khan would have to revert to those tactics in a rematch against Peterson to have a chance of winning, and in doing so he’d look awful. Khan needs to look good in his next fight if he wants to stay alive for a Mayweather fight in the future, because it’s already been 3 years since Khan last looked good in one of his fights. He looked terrible against Danny Garcia, Peterson, Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz.



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