(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) By Scott Gilfoid: There is a lot of debate about which fighter, if any, can step in to fill the huge vacuum left by Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he retires from boxing in 2016. While some fans think it’ll be junior middleweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, other fans aren’t so sure who will be able to step into replace Mayweather.
One fighter who feels he’s got the talent to be the next Mayweather is Amir Khan, believe it or not. Khan thinks he’s the guy that will replace Mayweather, and become the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in boxing.
In looking at Khan’s performance against Chris Algieri last month, I tend to have doubts whether Khan will ever come close to replacing Mayweather, but Khan seems to believe that he’s going to be the guy. Khan definitely isn’t lacking in self-confidence, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, I don’t think Khan’s self-belief is reality based. His vision of himself seems to be the polar opposite of reality.
“I’m going to be the next Floyd Mayweather whether I fight him or not,” Khan said to the Dailymail.co.uk. ”People want to see who the next Mayweather’s going to be, who the guy is that is going to take that position.”
Considering that Khan has a good chance of facing Mayweather in September, I don’t see him winning that fight. I think Mayweather is going to clown Khan and turn him into another Victor Ortiz. If Khan gets whipped by Mayweather in a humiliating fashion, I really don’t think Khan will ever be taken seriously ever again. Ortiz was no longer taken seriously by many fans after he was clowned by Mayweather, and I can see the same thing happening with Khan.
At 31-3, with three controversial wins over Willie Limond, Marcos Maidana and Julio Diaz, I don’t see Khan as having the talent to be the next Mayweather. It’s nice that Khan believes he’s going to be the “next Mayweather” whether he fights him or not, but it’s so hard to picture that image. I mean, Khan is so incredibly flawed in terms of his boxing skills that it’s not even funny.
Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter has done an admirable job in improving a lot of the glaring flaws in the 28-year-old Khan’s game, but there are so many areas that still need improvement. I just don’t think that Hunter is going to be able to fix all those problems with Khan. The thing is I doubt that Hunter will remain Khan’s trainer for too much longer anyway. With the way that Khan was talking after his close win over Algieri, I get the sense that Hunter’s days are numbered as Khan’s trainer. One can only guess who Khan will pick to replace Hunter with. My guess is it’ll be whichever trainer has the hot hand in terms of his fighters doing well. We’ll probably see Khan with trainer Robert Garcia in Oxnard, California. He’s a good trainer, but he’ll never be able to turn Khan into the next Mayweather, if that continues be Khan’s dream.
“It’s about fighting the likes of Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, you’ve got Timothy Bradley as well,” Khan said. “Maybe a rematch with Marcos Maidana and you’ve got Keith Thurman there. These are the names that are going to leave you a legacy and that’s what I want to do.”
If Khan faces those guys, he’d at least be going in the right direction towards establishing himself as the top dog at 147. I still don’t think he would be seen as the next Mayweather even if he were to bet them. Mayweather created his legacy over many years by beating a lot of guys. Marquez is pretty much done, as is Cotto. I can’t see Khan getting fights against them. Maidana, Thurman and Bradley are all guys that are young enough to face Khan, and it would be interesting to see how he’d do against them.
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