By sishaq: Many boxers will claim they will take on any fight out there but business sense dictates it’s best to avoid certain boxers like the plague.
Among the “avoided” – GGG, Keith Thurman, Guillermo Rigondeaux. These boxers present ultra-high risk but ultra-low reward. Get beaten by any of them and you simply become a statistic, in the unlikely event you beat them your stock doesn’t necessarily rise higher.
Either way these fighters do not generate enough public interest presently to make financial sense which is why many opposition promoters avoid them altogether. However, in my opinion all three are on the verge of breaking out of the middle tier and into super stardom. Time will tell as we don’t yet know what future bouts will catapult these elite athletes into the upper stratosphere. Now there’s one other boxer that hasn’t been mentioned yet who also resides in the “avoided” group but unlike the aforementioned three he offers high risk AND high reward. Who am I referring to? None other than Amir “King” Khan.
One of the few boxers whose future looks ultra-bright is Khan’s; who’s a legitimate opponent for Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and Kell Brook. Khan has a strong resume, elite boxing skills, fastest hands in the world, a wildly popular international following, social media savvy and the hunger to become world champion by any means necessary. He’s entering his prime years while many of the old guard is becoming, well just plain old. But that’s not the only issue at hand. Top Rank and Mayweather Promotions are competing promo companies; one represents Pacquiao and the other Mayweather. As bitter rivals, both deeply mistrust one another and there isn’t a room big enough to contain the egos of top boss Arum and Floyd to sit and come to terms. Compound that with for-profit Showtime and HBO having divided allegiances to Manny and Floyd and the web appears too tangled to make the one bout many want to see. Just the sheer lunacy of the politics makes Khan a viable option for either Floyd or Manny, but his past successes, boxing skills and strong following is what makes him a viable financial option! What’s in it for Floyd and Manny, aside from making top dollar? To strengthen their legacy by outpointing a faster and more agile opponent. To prove experience trumps youth. To validate their skills against another elite skilled boxer. An opportunity to capture an elusive KO in their advanced age against a credible opponent. Make no mistake, Manny and Floyd will have to outbid one another for the services of Khan! But if the impossible were to happen where Manny and Floyd agree to fight then Khan can take on a lucrative bout against Kell Brook, who’s itching to prove he’s top dog in the UK. What it boils down to is the reality that Khan is in the perfect sweet spot to get paid in 2015 and get paid handsomely!
Now the critics jump up and down, hoot and howl under the bright moonlight, claw their paws against metal to bring attention to Khan’s losses to unknown Breidis Prescott, Lamont ‘home-cooking’ Peterson and Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia. But let’s be clear, given Prescott has been unable to build off that win proves he got a lucky punch in which has happened to the best of them. Credit Khan for dusting off his shoulders and getting back to the top through hard work and dedication! Peterson was caught doping with illegal steroids lending him an unfair advantage, end of story. Garcia was getting schooled in a boxing 101 clinic until a wide hook got through Khan’s scant defense. It’s true Swift was looking like a world-beater subsequently but that all changed after he was introduced to 2014; when many believe he lost to Mauricio Herrera and then followed that up with a repulsive glorified bullying of #77 ranked ‘Lightning’ Rod Salka! Talk about a career thrown off a cliff then getting chipped away by jagged edges on the way down! What’s next, a title bout against the #99 ranked fighter who moonlights as a nanny (no offense to nannies)? But the loudest noise from the inmates isn’t from the clanging of their tin cup against the cell bars but from the superficial argument about Khan’s alleged “glass jaw”. What’s ironic about that is one of the most feared punchers (and poster boy hero of the critics), Marcos Maidana, couldn’t break the “glass” when he had 12 rounds to go after it, neither could big puncher Luis Collazo whom many unwisely predicted would bring out the bambii legs on Khan. Floyd’s pillow fists lack the ammunition to KO glass as does Manny, who may also lack the stamina to keep up with Khan’s speed. Kell Brook has a punchers chance but he’ll have to prove he can float like a butterfly to sting like a bee. The reality is Khan is too fast to get bogged down in the Bermuda Triangle of Manny, Floyd and Kell. And unlike Maidana, Khan can speak English which helps to promote a fight, can fill up Wembley against an elite opponent, is polarizing enough to generate high interest on a domestic bout, has just enough weakness to make things interesting and isn’t afraid to trash talk a big game. Of the “avoided” fighters Khan is a bona fide high-risk, high-reward threat primed to become world champion in 2015.
Comments are closed.