Put Khan in with Porter; Winner gets Mayweather

By Michael Byrne - 05/07/2014 - Comments

khan111By Michael Byrne: Amir Khan is once more running his mouth, chasing a shot at Mayweather. However, it has long been determined that Mayweather’s next fight will be in September, and Khan has admitted he can’t make this date as he wants three months to prepare for the fight, and Ramadan would get in the way of this. Khan is trying to pressure Mayweather to push the date back to November, but whilst Khan’s pressure in the ring is world-class, his influence over Mayweather outside the ring is non-existent: Mayweather fights who he wants, when he wants.

Also, after Mayweather’s very close fight with Maidana last Saturday, one which seen him behind on the scorecards at the mid-point of the bout, there is significant demand for a rematch. So if Mayweather fights Maidana again in September and comes through that bout, his fight date of May 2015 could well be against Khan. However, Khan would still benefit from proving himself further at 147: dominating Collazo is a good start, but another big scalp would be ideal to show he deserves the fight. Taking a world title into the Mayweather fight to make it a unification fight would also satisfy fight fans and make the occasion, as well as Khan’s purse, a little bigger.

Enter: Shawn Porter. The young, hungry, undefeated IBF champion who is also searching for the biggest fights out there. He upset Devon Alexander to win the title by out-hustling and out-muscling him, and then absolutely steamrolled Paulie Malignaggi out of the way in his first defence. He looks phenomenal, however neither Alexander nor Paulie were really elite-level fighters, and if Porter wants to keep proving himself he needs to keep stepping up.

Porter vs Khan could be a fantastic fight, and a difficult one to call. Khan won’t be able to bully Porter the way he did Collazo, but he will still be faster than him. However, his newly-improved defence will have to keep improving, because if Porter gets through with any of those leaping left hooks like he did against Malignaggi, we might see Khan hitting the canvas. Repeatedly. Both men are aggressive, and are fantastic combination punchers in their own right. At a glance, Khan’s success would come from throwing 2 and 3-punch combinations and keeping Porter away, whilst Porter will want to bull his way inside and batter Khan with some vicious mid-to-close-range work. It’s an intriguing match-up, and if either man wins convincingly then Mayweather would struggle to deny the winner the right to fight him. His only other potential interesting avenue (excluding Pac, of course), assuming he beats Maidana convincingly next time out, would be Erislandy Lara if he beats Canelo on July 12th. But let’s remember Floyd is not a real 154lb fighter, and if Lara shows he is the real deal by beating Canelo, then Floyd will probably want to stay at 147 and take a slightly safer fight against Khan or Porter.



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