By Scott Gilfoid: It’s not looking good for Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) as far as him getting a shot at WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KO’s) for next year in May on Cinco de Mayo.
Mayweather’s trainer Roger Mayweather seemed disinterested when Khan’s name was mentioned during a recent interview as a potential opponent for Mayweather in May, as did Jeff Mayweather.
Additionally, Miguel Cotto has emerged as a potential name for Mayweather to compete with in May of next year if Mayweather can get him signed before Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya gets him to agree to a fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Khan can help himself get the Mayweather fight if he would just get back in the ring and start fighting high caliber opposition once again. Right now, Khan is like a kid that got burned playing with matches who doesn’t want to go through the experience again. Khan was beaten by Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson in his step up fights in 2011 and 2012. Since then, Khan has faced 5’5” little Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz and Luis Collazo.
Those were fine fighters many years ago, but neither has done anything eons. Khan fighting those guys is like Khan fighting Marco Antonio Barrera when he was no longer the same fighter he once was.
Khan’s adviser Al Haymon is going to need to make it worthwhile for Mayweather to want to fight Khan, and right now he’s done doing that by matching him against older fighters that are 7-10 years past their prime.
Haymon needs to take a chance with Khan by shoving him in the ring with Shawn Porter or Keith Thurman in a sink or swim mode if he wants to get the Mayweather fight, because that’s probably the only way that Khan is going to be able to win enough attention and respect in the boxing community to get the Mayweather fight. Haymon catch match Khan up against a 100 old toothless lions, and he’s probably still not going to get the Mayweather fight.
The match-making that has been done for Khan recently has done little other than stop the bleeding from his sinking career. Yeah, Khan stopped losing now that he’s fighting beatable opposition, but he’s also not doing anything to increase his status. He’s stuck right at where he was after his back to back defeats to Garcia and Peterson. The match-making that’s being done for Khan now has him strapped in a stultified career situation where he’s being repetitively matched against fodder and unable to rise up and face higher quality opponents that will actually help his career.
If this was a situation where matching Khan against fodder for a couple of years locked him into a title shot against Mayweather that he would be forced to take or else he’d end up being stripped of his titles, then I could agree with the weak opponents that Khan has been matched against. But the WBC and WBA has no way of forcing Mayweather to fight Khan. If they do that, he’ll dump the straps and they’ll lose out on that sanctioning fee cash from him. They’re obviously not going to do that with Mayweather.
The best thing Haymon can do is take a chance with Khan by matching him against a real body in Thurman or Porter. If Khan loses to one or both of them, then that’s just how it goes. But it’s probably the only chance that Khan has in getting a Mayweather fight.
Haymon also should tell Khan to stop holding, shoving and pulling down on his opponent’s heads when he fights, because I can’t imagine Mayweather is too excited about fighting someone who is using MMA techniques in the ring unless he has a referee working the fight who actually does his job to keep Khan from going MMA on him. The last thing Mayweather needs is to fight someone who is going to be putting him in head-locks and cranking down on his head all night long.
Comments are closed.