By Scott Gilfoid: After years of talking incessantly about wanting/deserving a shot against the top welterweights in the division, Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) may finally be on the verge of getting one of the big names to fight him.
Bob Arum, the 83-year-old promoter for Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs), is saying that Khan is the NO.1 backup option for Pacquiao if he can’t put together a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao has even traveled to the UK to meet with Khan to discuss the fight, and Khan is very eager to get the fight.
Khan’s contract with Showtime just ran out, so there’s nothing to stop him from fighting on HBO against Pacquiao. Khan is also still being promoted by Golden Boy Promotions with Al Haymon in an advisory role. Arum says that Haymon can’t stop the Khan-Pacquiao fight from taking place if that’s the fight Khan wants, and it clearly is. Additionally, Golden Boy Promotions wants the fight as well.
“Khan would certainly make sense, and it’s an interesting fight. But remember — all that is a backup plan. We are still trying to nail down the Mayweather fight. We need Mayweather to say yes,” Arum told Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “Haymon, who has no power to prevent the fight, as we understand it. Oscar is confident he can make the fight,” Arum said.
Besides Khan, Arum is interested in matching him against Ruslan Provodnikov, and Lucas Matthysse. Khan is the one they want though.
None of this may matter if Mayweather chooses to fight Pacquiao. Mayweather hasn’t signed the contract yet, but then again HBO and Showtime are still working on their side of the contract. It makes little sense for Mayweather to sign off on a contract before those two cable giants finish hashing out the details for their joint telecast.
Pacquiao is a bad match-up for Khan due to his hand speed and punching power. In Pacquiao’s last fight against Chris Algieri, Pacquiao has no problem negating the running and spoiling tactics of Algieri. Khan is basically Algieri 2.0, but with more spoiling tactics like shoving his opponents, putting them in head-locks, clinching constantly to keep his opponents from throwing punches back, and running.
It would take a good referee to keep Khan from getting away with a lot against Pacquiao, but it probably wouldn’t matter. Khan can use all of those spoiling tactics, but eventually Pacquiao is going to stun him with a shot, and once Khan is hurt, he’ll be at Pacquiao’s mercy just like he was in his fight against Danny Garcia in 2012. Garcia is the last good opponent Khan has faced.
Since then, Khan has fought the light hitting Devon Alexander, Julio Diaz, Carlos Molina and Luis Collazo. We’re talking middle of the road talent, and not upper class guys. Alexander had recently been beaten far, far worse by Shawn Porter than what Khan did. Porter beat Alexander up badly; Khan merely boxed him and fought off his back foot the entire fight, as Alexander was a knockout artist instead of a light hitter. Needless to say, it was an incredibly boring fight to watch.
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