Khan must stop Algieri and force Mayweather to the table, says Bunce

By Boxing News - 05/26/2015 - Comments

khan566(Photo credit: Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment) By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) is under all kinds of pressure this Friday in his fight against Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Even though the fight is seen as a mismatch with Khan being a huge favorite, he really needs a knockout in this fight to help improve his chances of getting a payday fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September.

Steve Bunce from ESPN is one of many people who recognize the almost impossible situation the 28-year-old Khan is for this fight against Algieri. Khan has got to be able to not only beat Algieri, 31, but also take him out in a destructive manner to get Mayweather to give him the fight he’s been asking for since I can remember.

Khan needs to go out and destroy a fighter who has never been knocked out in the past. Algieri has only been beaten once, and that was by Manny Pacquiao last November. Even the big punching pressure fighter Ruslan Provodnikov couldn’t do the job on Algieri last year, and wound up losing the fight by a 12 round decision.

“The Pacquiao loss was Algieri’s only defeat in 21 fights and Khan’s mission is to go one better, stop Algieri and try and force Mayweather to the table,” Bunce said via ESPN.co.uk. It will not be easy. Khan is under all of the pressure in New York on Friday.”

I can see Khan not only slipping up and not getting the knockout, but possibly even losing the fight itself if he puts too much pressure on himself. If Khan fights sloppy while going for a knockout, Algieri is going to have him right where he wants him and will be looking to land a big shot that puts Khan away.

You have to remember that Khan’s chin has been dented in the past by Willie Limond, a fighter who isn’t a big puncher. Algieri can punch at least as hard as Limond can. Khan got sloppy in the Limond fight and was nailed with a hard shot while in the process of trying to get a KO himself, and he ended up getting dropped. Khan did get up from the knockdown and go on and win the fight, but the damage was done. He’d been exposed by Limond.

I can’t see Khan doing a good enough job against Algieri to get the fight against Mayweather in September. Khan has way too much to make up for in terms of all his losses, and his lack of quality opponents he’s faced in the last three years. There’s no reason for Mayweather to fight Khan because the guy stopped fighting punchers three years ago.



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