By Scott Gilfoid: Most boxing fans would argue that Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) needs a fight against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and/or Manny Pacquiao to take his career to the next level to increase his popularity in America, and get him to the level where his fights are shown on pay-per-view.
Without wins over the likes of Mayweather or Pacquiao, it’s likely that Khan will never become a PPV attraction in America. Heavyweight Anthony Joshua sees things differently. He doesn’t agree that Khan needs Mayweather for him to have a great career. Joshua thinks that Khan’s fight against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook will be a huge fight.
“No, I think that Amir Khan has got great opportunities – with or without Mayweather. I think he’s got the likes of Kell Brook,” Joshua said to Sky Sports News HQ. “Amir Khan can go on to look forward to fighting Kell Brook and others in the division.”
I hate to say it but I think Joshua doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s talking but he’s not making any sense at all. I hope for Khan’s sake he isn’t seeing Joshua as some kind of sage, because I think Joshua doesn’t have a clue when it comes to his latest advice for Khan to follow.
I think Khan’s opportunities in the welterweight division are a minefield of potential pain and misery. If you take away Mayweather and Pacquiao from the equation, Khan is facing potential knockout losses to Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana and Errol Spence.
The only way I see Khan avoiding those defeats is by staying far, far away from those fighters for as long as possible. The thing is it’s going to look really weird if Khan never faces any of those fighters. I mean, how can Khan get popular without fighting Thurman, Maidana [again], Spence or Porter? That’s why it’s so important that Khan get fights against Mayweather and Pacquiao. Because if he were able to beat one of those guys, or at least look good in fighting them, he’d become very popular. Khan could then avoid the above mentioned fighters and pick and choose opponents like Mayweather and Pacquiao. If you’ve noticed, Mayweather is fighting Andre Berto next. You’ll also notice that Pacquiao has recently fought Chris Algieri.
Nah, I don’t think the Brook fight will be anywhere close to what Khan would get if he were to fight Mayweather or Pacquiao. I mean, beating Brook is obviously going to help Khan’s career, but you can’t compare it to what a win over Mayweather or Pacquiao would do for Khan’s career. The fact of the matter is Khan DOES need Mayweather and Pacquiao to help his career.
Without those fights, Khan could wind up languishing as just another one of the many top welterweight contenders in the division. The only way Khan can set himself apart from the rest is if he faces Mayweather and Pacquiao. Heck, Khan wouldn’t even need to win the fights. As long as he was competitive, it would help his career by making him a more visible fighter to the casual boxing fans, many of which don’t know who Khan is in the United States.
Casual fans only follow the big names in the boxing world like Mayweather and Pacquiao. If you ask them who Khan is the chances are they’ve never heard of him. But this would change if Khan got a fight against Mayweather and/or Pacquiao.
To be sure, Khan does have the Brook fight that he can get a nice payday against. But how many times can Khan fight Brook? At best, they might be able to fight twice, but after that, Khan is going to be in need of bigger names to become more popular. Without Mayweather or Pacquiao, Khan isn’t going to have those names to get him to the next level.
The only way I can see Khan taking on a big name after Mayweather and Pacquiao clear out is for Khan to try and convince Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya to match him against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. That would be a huge fight for Khan’s career. Khan could also take a huge risk in moving up to middleweight to try and fight WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. That would be a big fight if he could get it.
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