Khan: I didn’t say I’ll use Pacquiao as bait

By Boxing News - 09/29/2015 - Comments

khan101By Scott Gilfoid: After Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) basically said that he’s using Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) as bait and a stepping stone to get a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Khan is now denying that he said it. I don’t know why Khan is denying what he said because there’s no shame in him having said he’s just using Pacquiao as bait to get the fight against Mayweather. Technically, Khan didn’t say he’s using Pacquiao as bait, but his recent comment below could be interpreted by some to amount to the same thing.

I mean, if that’s what Khan is doing by fighting Pacquiao, then he should be out in the open with his move rather than distancing himself from the comment.

Here’s what Khan said to skysports.com about him using Pacquiao as bait to get Mayweather out of retirement:

“I want to fight Manny Pacquiao next because if I beat him, maybe that will make Floyd Mayweather come out of retirement to fight me. The public demand would be huge.”

I don’t know about you but to me that sounds like Khan is saying that he’s using Pacquiao as bait to lure Mayweather out of retirement so that he can trap him into a fight.

I’m starting to wonder about Khan’s analytical powers. I think it’s painfully obvious from reading Khan’s original interview comment with Sky Sports that he’s basically saying that he’s using Pacquiao as Mayweather bait to get him out of retirement so that he can fight him. It seems pretty clear to me that Pacquiao is the less desired fighter that Khan is using to get the more desired target opponent Mayweather to fight him.

Pacquiao can take that whatever way he wants to. I guess if he gets upset enough, he might want to rip Khan to smithereens in the ring next year. But then again, Pacquiao might get upset at the comment and decide to have nothing to do with Khan. I guess that might be why Khan is distancing himself from his comment by saying that he didn’t say he’s using Manny as bait. But it seems that’s what he’s doing.

Maybe this will motivate Pacquiao to get Khan in the ring to show him that he still has enough left in the tank to deal with the likes of him. It would make for an intriguing match because you could come up with some great slogans for the fight like ‘Will Khan send Pacquiao into retirement’ and such. Then Pacquiao will look like a hero when he goes out there and batters Khan around the ring for 12 rounds like he recently did with Chris Algieri last year in November. I would say that Pacquiao might KO Khan, but I don’t think that’s a realistic option at this point in the Filipino fighter’s career because he hasn’t knocked out anyone in the last six years of his career, and his trainer Freddie Roach has made himself look silly all those years by predicting crazy early KO wins for Pacquiao.

Pacquiao hasn’t come close to knocking anyone out in the last six years. But if there is one fighter that Pacquiao would have a good chance of knocking out, it’s Khan, especially with him mentioning that he’s basically using him as bait to try and get a fight against Mayweather. If something like that doesn’t have Pacquiao seeing red with anger then I don’t know what will. I can imagine it might make Manny angry enough to knock Khan to the moon with his punches once he gets him inside the ring.

It does seem kind of heartless and disrespectful of Pacquiao to see that he’s been reduced to little more than Mayweather bait to get him to come out of retirement, but that’s how it goes I guess. I think it was just as bad how Khan recently said that he’s catching Pacquiao at the right time. That to me is pretty bad because Khan is thinking he’s catching Pacquiao at the right time due to him coming off of a loss to Mayweather and a major injury.

We didn’t see Khan showing interest in fighting Pacquiao when he was in the zenith of his career back in 2008 and 2009, when Pacquiao was destroying everyone he faced. Instead, we’re seeing Khan showing interest in fighting the 36-year-old Pacquiao, with him coming off of a loss and a potential career-ending shoulder injury.



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