By Scott Gilfoid: It’s looking like non-top 15 ranked Josesito Lopez (32-6, 19 KOs) could be the next opponent for Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) to fight in December, according to Steve Kim.
They haven’t made the fight yet, but it’s going to depend a lot on how Lopez looks in his fight this Thursday night against an opponent still to be determined on September 11th at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Lopez, 30, still doesn’t have an opponent scheduled for the fight, but it’s just a stay busy fight for him so it really doesn’t matter.
“My understanding is that Josesito Lopez to fight on Sept 11 in Las Vegas, could be in line to face Amir Khan in December,” Steve Kim said via twitter last month.
Khan and Lopez both have Al Haymon as their adviser so he would be scratching both of their backs if he makes this fight. With Khan, Haymon would be giving him an opponent that is similar in talent to his last couple of opponents in Julio Diaz and Luis Collazo. In other words, Khan would be facing someone that he has a very, very, very good chance of beating instead of someone that might actually knock him out and ruin any chances of him ever getting a cash out fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr like Robert Guerrero and Devon Alexander.
Khan had been mentioning those guys for ages recently, but then all of a sudden Josesito Lopez’s name started getting mentioned, as well as Andre Berto’s, and so now it looks like we’re going to see Khan fighting Lopez.
Boxing fans that aren’t following the sport may not realize that Lopez has lost 3 out of his last 6 fights. Some fans likely only remember Lopez from his upset victory over Victor Ortiz in 2012, and assume that he’s won every fight since then. Unfortunately, Lopez hasn’t done too well lately with him having lost 2 out of his last 4 fights since the Ortiz fight. The two guys that Lopez beat were Mike Arnaoutis and Aaron Martinez.
There’s nothing wrong with Khan fighting another 2nd tier fighter at this point. If Showtime is willing to televise his fights against this caliber opposition then more power to him. If they’re saying yes to opposition like this for Khan, then you can’t blame Haymon and Khan in sticking with their formula. But if Khan is expecting to get a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr off of wins over Lopez, little Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz and Collazo, then I’m not so sure that Lopez is the right fight for Khan.
For Khan to get a fight against Mayweather, he should at the very least take on a guy like Robert Guerrero or Devon Alexander, if not Keith Thurman. There should be some kind of weeding out process.
If Khan can’t beat the likes of Alexander, Guerrero or Thurman, then you can make a case for him not deserving a fight against Mayweather. And if Khan, or his adviser Haymon, aren’t willing to make the fights against Guerrero, Alexander or Thurman, then why should Mayweather choose to fight Khan? I mean, a Khan vs. Lopez fight seems like the backdoor method of getting a fight against Mayweather.
Lopez has suffered knockout losses to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Marcos Maidana in the last couple of years.
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