By Scott Gilfoid: An animated and highly agitated WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) called #1 WBC Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) for a fight. Thurman says he wants to fight him, and that he sees Khan as a totally overrated fighter.
Both Thurman and Khan share the same adviser in Al Haymon, so the fight should in theory be one that can be made. But it would be up to Haymon and Khan whether they would want to take that fight. Thus far it seems like there’s no interest from their side in putting the fight together against the hard hitting Thurman.
The guys that Khan has been matched up against since his knockout loss to Danny Garcia have been smaller guys without much in the way of power. Khan has beaten Carlos Molina [the lightweight, not the junior middleweight], Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander.
Diaz dropped Khan in their fight in April 2013 in a fight that Khan won by a controversial 12 round decision. Khan was rocked at least three times in that fight by left hooks from Diaz. I had Diaz winning. But the fact that Khan couldn’t even get through a fight against Diaz, a former lightweight champion, is troubling. Khan should have been able to win that fight with ease if he was for real.
“Amir Khan is the No.1 most overrated welterweight in the welterweight division,” Thurman said via Thaboxingvoice.com. “I thought [Floyd] Mayweather was a cherry picker. Boy, [Khan] you pick some cherries. He fought Devon Alexander, one forty pounder at 147, and now he wants to fight Chris Algieri, another lightweight that you’re making move up; someone who don’t got experience like other welterweights in the top 10 get. He’s not even a top 10 fighter and Ring Magazine wants to put him above me. Get that [expletive] out of here. Amir Khan ain’t ready for Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, because if he was ready, we would do it tomorrow, son. I’m here, baby. Come get it. Man, you soft, boy.”
Oh man, Thurman is really giving it to Khan. He wasn’t pulling any punches. I wonder how Khan will take this. Will he stand up on his hind legs and fire off a salvo back to Thurman to show that he’s ready to face him or will he go quiet. Gosh, I hope Khan speaks up and shows Thurman that he’s not terrified of him like a lot of boxing fans think he is. Khan has been saying that he can’t get fights against guys like Adrien Broner. Well, here’s Khan’s chance to get a fight against someone who is arguably even better than Broner.
By the time that Thurman finished talking, he had worked himself up to a rage all by himself in talking about his issues with Khan. Thurman just walked away from the camera person without even saying goodbye. I wouldn’t be surprised if Thurman’s blood pressure was soaring in the 200s at that time, because he looked he wanted to tear Khan apart if he was standing there in front of him.
I think it’s safe to say that Khan will turn down a fight against Thurman, even though Thurman holds the WBA welterweight title. Khan already turned own a title shot against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook because he feels that Brook doesn’t have a big enough name for it to be a fight that’s worthy of him.
If Khan isn’t willing to fight Brook, then you can guess that he isn’t interested in fighting Thurman either. Khan just wants the big money fights against Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr without him having to face anyone dangerous to get the fight. The thing is it looks really bad with Khan fighting guys like Alexander and now Algieri rather than someone in the welterweight division that has power.
Alexander is a former light welterweight, so you can’t really count him as a legit welterweight. He certainly doesn’t have any punching power. It’s one thing to turn down a guy like Brook and say that he doesn’t have a big name, but when Khan turns around and fights Algieri, who arguably has less of a name as Brook, it just makes Khan look bad in the eyes of some boxing fans. It’s not news that Khan has been matched against weaker punchers since the loss to Garcia, but he needs to step it up already.
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