By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan is already drawing a line in the sand by saying he won’t go lower than 147 pounds for a potential fight against Manny Pacquiao if he gets the call to be the Filipino fighter’s backup option in May if the Floyd Mayweather Jr fight doesn’t materialize.
Khan has slowly worked his way up from the light welterweight division in building up his body through resistance exercises during his time out of the ring, and he doesn’t want to have to strip down weight in order to fight Pacquiao at a catch-weight if that’s an idea that he or his trainer Freddie Roach might have for the Khan fight.
“You know, because I’m so used to 147 and I built myself up to 147, I think 147 is just an ideal weight for me. I wouldn’t want to go lower or higher. Let’s just stick to 147,” Khan said via Fighthype.com.
Khan, of course, is taking a big risk by showing his backbone this early as far as the Pacquiao fight is concerned, because it’s quite possible that might be enough for him not to get the fight if Pacquiao’s management don’t like Khan’s lip. I mean, if Khan is mouthing off this early by saying what he will or won’t do, I can definitely see Pacquiao and his management seeing Khan as ungrateful and not wanting to fight him because of it.
Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum would be throwing Khan a bone if they were to agree to fight him, so that’s why it’s probably not a good idea for Khan to be blabbering about not wanting to fight at a catch-weight.
If Pacquiao wants a catch-weight to help him against Khan, then I think it’s in Khan’s best interest to bow down and take it like a man in order to get the fight. Believe me, if Khan keeps flapping his gums by saying he won’t do this or he won’t do that in fight negotiations with Pacquiao, I see that fight going out the window immediately.
Khan needs to make sure he grovels enough to get the fight, because Pacquiao has a lot of other options available to him besides Khan. I mean, it’s going to be difficult as it is to put the Khan-Pacquiao fight together due to Khan being managed by Al Haymon. I see that as a major stumbling block to getting the Khan-Pacquiao fight made. I can’t remember the last time, if ever, that Haymon and Arum worked together on a fight. Khan might be talking about a fight that will never happen.
I get the feeling that Pacquiao, Arum and Michael Koncz are merely floating Khan’s name in the public to get Mayweather to sign the contract quicker. I don’t see them as being seriously interested in matching Khan against Pacquiao. In other words, Khan is being used as a pawn in order to get Mayweather to put his ink on the contract for the Pacquiao fight. If Mayweather doesn’t sign the contract, Khan will likely be ignored while Arum matches Pacquiao against Jessie Vargas, one of the fighters in his Top Rank stable.
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