By Scott Gilfoid: Former two division world champion David Haye sees 2015 as being a breakout year for #1 WBC, #2 WBA welterweight contender Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) to accomplish big things for his stalled career. Haye sees the 28-year-old Khan facing IBF 147lb strap holder Kell Brook, as well as other important fights.
Haye also is convinced that Khan will beat IBF/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr if they face each other in 2015. Haye likes Khan’s speed and he sees him as being too much for Mayweather.
With that said, Khan’s chances of getting a fight against Mayweather in 2015 are about to go out the window once Mayweather signs a contract to fight Manny Pacquiao for May 2nd.
Khan can’t fight Mayweather later in 2015 due to Ramadan keeping Khan out of the ring in September, which is when Mayweather plans on fighting for the second time this year. As such, Khan will have to pray that he can get a fight against Mayweather in 2016, because that’s pretty much Khan’s last chance of ever facing him.
“Amir is truly coming into his own, and I think 2015 will be his crowning year,” Haye said to the Zoo magazine as quoted by the Manchestereveningnews.om. “There are massive fights out there for him [Khan], like a showdown with Kell Brook, but for me he’s the only person on the planet who can beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. Speed will dictate that fight – and Amir is faster than Floyd.”
Let’s be honest; there’s one massive fight out there for Khan, and that’s the Kell Brook fight. Whether Khan will finally man up and take the fight in 2015 remains to be seen. I think he won’t. But if Khan does fight Brook, it’ll be his only big fight in 2015. Khan isn’t going to get a fight against Mayweather or Pacquiao. Those fights just aren’t going to happen.
So, it’s Kell Brook for Khan unless he doesn’t have the nerve for the fight, or Khan can step it up a level and look to fight the likes of Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana, Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse or Keith Shawn Porter. Since I don’t see Khan’s adviser Al Haymon or his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions matching him up against any of those guys, my guess is Khan faces the likes of Victor Ortiz, Josesito Lopez, Yoshihiro Kamegai, Andre Berto, Kevin Bizier or Antonin Decaire.
Believe me, it’s going to be one or more of those guys rather than anyone with talent and power like Brook, Garcia, Matthysse, Porter, Maidana or Thurman. Those guys are probably off limits for Khan. Casual boxing fans will probably get excited about Khan fighting the likes of Ortiz, Lopez or Berto, because they won’t realize that none of them are relevant anymore, so Khan will be able to take the fights without getting too much criticism. But those are basically the same kinds of fights that Khan has been fighting since he was knocked out by Danny Garcia in 2012. Since then, Khan has beaten lightweight Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander. None of them are what you can call a relevant fighter, and none of them are big punchers.
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