By Gav Duthie: The final nail has been hammered into the coffin regarding the hopes for Amir Khan ever fighting Floyd Mayweather Jnr. Even if Floyd does decide to fight on passed the 49 bout unbeaten streak (shared with Rocky Marciano) after Andre Berto it is pretty clear he will never face Khan. Like it or not Amir needs to accept this and move on and build his career in other ways. How can he reach the summit of welterweight boxing without beating Mayweather. Whats next?
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Many pundits and fans have questioned Khan’s credentials in facing Mayweather but nobody anywhere would suggest that Berto is ahead in the queue. Mayweather is looking to take it easy and after a tough career fighting the best that’s his prerogative. Amir has been overlooked before but surely he realizes that not being favored over B-level fighter Andre Berto spells the end. Khan was first dismissed for Marcos Maidana despite winning a twitter poll over the Argentine to face Floyd. Then he was overlooked again in favor of a Maidana rematch and after that of course in order to face Manny Pacquiao in the fight of the century. The Berto snub is the fourth and surely final one and Amir now needs to chase other avenues.
Titles or Rematches
There are few who argue against Amir’s talent but his chin has meant most don’t believe he is capable of dominating the 147lb division. Khan probably felt a win over Floyd would have wiped the slate clean in terms of his 3 losses and technical deficiencies. It isn’t going to happen so he needs to do it the hard way. His three options are:
– Chase the current world champions (Keith Thurman (WBA), Kell Brook (IBF), Tim Bradley (WBO))
– Rematches (Danny Garcia, Lamont Peterson)
– Super fight (Manny Pacquiao)
Danny Garcia
Of all those options I feel he needs to chase the rematch with Danny Garcia. Financially the fight with Brook would be the most lucrative and a win would make him a world champion but beating Garcia would do more for his career. At the moment in some quarters the Brook-Khan fight would still be seen as domestic. Brook needs some top defences to build this up but Garcia is top level now. He already has the big wins and has fully committed to the welterweight division. If Khan could beat Garcia he would go a long way to proving the doubters wrong. His other losses were less damaging as he was a novice against Prescott and the Peterson fight could have went either way. People are looking to see who can take Garcia’s ‘0’.
What do you think Amir’s next fight should be?
Who will be the number 1 welterweight post Mayweather?
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