By Scott Gilfoid: Despite the news earlier today about Floyd Mayweather Jr. likely to be facing Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) next for his September bout, Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) isn’t ready to give up on the idea of him getting the fight against Mayweather.
Khan still insists that Mayweather might wind up facing someone else on September 12th, meaning him. I don’t know if that’s realistic view for Khan to have because Mayweather has already said it himself that he’s interested in Berto or Karim Mayfield for his next fight.
“Media always try and twist things, What I meant was: Floyd picking an easy fight before he retires is Bad for boxing!” Khan said on his Twitter. “I’m with Berto all the way.. But Floyd might pick someone else. The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
If it helps Khan sleep at night for him to think that he’s still in the running for the Mayweather fight then so be it. I don’t think it’s reasonable for Khan to be deceiving himself and getting his hopes all up. It would be much better for Khan to close the book on him getting a fight against Mayweather. At least if Khan moved on mentally, he could start doing something with his career for the first time in years.
Khan has kept himself in a holding pattern since his loss to Danny Garcia in 2012. He’s had five soft opponents since then, and it’s gotten himself nowhere. Khan needs to realize that for him to take his career to the next level, he’s going to need to forget about Mayweather, stopping fighting weak punchers, and start facing the talented guys. If Khan gets whipped by them, then he needs to sign up for a cash out fight against Kell Brook, and retire if he beats him. That’s kind of the best way for Khan to play it.
With the tough opponent that Mayweather had in his last fight against Manny Pacquiao last May, there’s every reason in the world to believe that Mayweather is looking to take an easy mark this time around. Mayweather doesn’t need to take on anyone dangerous or someone that is going to clinch, shove and run all night long like Khan or Keith Thurman would do. Shawn Porter would be all over Mayweather on the inside, grappling and forcing Mayweather to fight him in close whether he likes it or not. As we saw in Porter’s last fight against Adrien Broner last June, it’s impossible to run from Porter because he’s too good at cutting off the ring.
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