By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) is coming into tonight’s fight against Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) with a lot of worry that he might not shine and will lose the chance to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September. Khan still thinks he has a chance for that fight even though he’s been given no real signs that he’ll be next in line for the American star.
Without any hints from Mayweather, Khan is literally flying blind for this fight tonight against the 31-year-old Algieri, and all he can do is try to look his best in beating the former WBO 140lb champ.
“A bad performance here would ruin me,” said Khan via Steve Bunce at ESPN.co.uk. “The Floyd Mayeather fight would go out the window. The super-fights I dream about would disappear.”
I think Khan is kidding himself, I really do. I don’t see Mayweather giving Khan a fight because the guy has no fan base in the U.S, and he’s been fighting the wrong guys. There are perquisite guys that you have to fight before getting to a star like Mayweather, and Khan has taken the wrong guys. He’s been taking remedial type opposition instead of the tougher fighters.
Khan has unknowingly put himself in a bad position to get the fight against Mayweather by failing to fight the quality fighters in the welterweight division for the past three years. After was whipped by Danny Garcia in 2012, he’s chosen to fight soft opposition in facing Carlos Molina from the light welterweight division, Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo, Delvin Rodriguez and now Algieri. Those are not risky fights, as none of them can punch and none care considered to be top five guys. There are guys that Khan could have fought to elevate himself to a top position to get the Mayweather fight, but for some reason Khan hasn’t bothered fighting these guys. I’m referring to fighters like Danny Garcia, Marcos Maidana, Kell Brook, Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner and Lucas Matthysse. If Khan had just fought at least one of them, he’d be in a much better position for the Mayweather fight than he is right now.
“I’ll be limited in where I have to go if I lose again so there’s a lot of pressure on this fight,” Khan said. “If you make a mistake, you are done.”
Khan is right about him being in a limited position if he gets beaten by Algieri. There is no question that his position will be totally compromised if he gets whipped tonight by Algieri. But in terms of it having any impact on whether he gets the Mayweather fight, I don’t see it effecting him because I don’t think Mayweather is going to waste his final fight of his career against an unknown like Khan. Khan is messing around doing algebra when he should be tackling calculus in terms of opposition, and he’s not ready for a tough course like Mayweather. Khan has wasted too much time with elementary fighters, and that’s why I see him being ignored by Mayweather come September.
Comments are closed.