By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) thinks 2016 will be an especially good year for him in terms of big fights. Khan thinks he’ll be fighting both Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) next year. Yes, I said Floyd Mayweather. Khan thinks that Mayweather will be coming back in 2016 in search of win No.50, and that he’ll pick him rather than one of the other top fighters in the 147lb division.
While I think Khan does have a very good chance of getting a fight against Pacquiao, I have my doubts that he’ll be seeking Mayweather in the ring against him. I mean, if Khan doesn’t know by now, Mayweather doesn’t seem to fancy the idea of fighting him for some reason.
My guess is Mayweather doesn’t want to be held and/or shoves all night long like we sometimes see from Khan. He doesn’t shove as much as he used to, but he sure does hold a lot and he’s very good with the headlocks that he likes to put on his opponents. I don’t think Mayweather likes to be held or put in breath-stopping headlocks 24/7 when he fights.
“We are working on that fight, we are speaking to [Pacquiao’s promoter] Bob Arum and his team and I think if that is going to happen, it will happen early next year,” Khan said via skysports.com.
I’m just wondering if Khan is going to keep himself in the shutdown mode as far as fights go until he gets the fight against Pacquiao in 2016. If so, then Khan will have fought just once in 2015, and this comes after missing a year of his career from April 2013 to May 2014. Khan is really doing a number on his career in staying out of the ring while trying to get fights against the big stars Mayweather and Pacquiao.
You can argue that Khan has missed at least 6 fights during the last couple of years. If you figure that Khan makes a little over $1 million each time he fights, he’s probably missed out on at least $7 million, perhaps even more by not fighting three times a year.
That’s good cash that Khan has thrown away by not making sure he fights every four months without fail. Now we could be seeing Khan throw away the last quarter of 2015 without fighting. That’s another $1 million+ he’ll be losing by not fighting.
Of course, you can kind of understand why Khan might not want to fight. Let’s say Khan does fight. He’s kind of run out of weak punchers to fight at 147, and he’s already facing a lot of pressure from boxing fans who want to see him start facing big punchers again after his knockout loss to Danny Garcia three years ago in 2012. If Khan listens to the fans and faces someone like Errol Spence, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook or Keith Thurman, he’ll likely get knocked out and find himself not getting the Pacquiao fight in February or March of 2016.
For that reason, you can kind of understand why Khan would want to stay out of the ring for the remainder of 2015 to wait on the Pacquiao fight instead.
“I think it is a good time to catch Manny Pacquiao now, I think it would be a huge fight, I don’t know where it’s going to be yet but we are talking terms and negotiating if we can make the fight happen,” Khan said.
Khan thinks it’s a good time to catch Pacquiao with him coming off of a shoulder injury and a 12 round unanimous decision loss to Mayweather last May in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao is obviously at a weak point in his career with his defeat and shoulder problem, and we don’t know if Pacquiao will be the same fighter when he does come back next year. Pacquiao looked terrible against Mayweather from the moment he walked into the ring. You could just tell that Pacquiao was going to lose the fight.
“I really believe he [Mayweather] will come back for that 50th fight and I really think he will go for that Amir Khan versus Floyd Mayweather fight,” Khan said in speaking in the third person.
I wonder what gives Khan the idea that Mayweather will come back to fight him instead of someone else. Has someone been whispering in Khan’s ear in telling him that Mayweather wants to fight him, or is he just dreaming about this? I don’t think Mayweather will ever fight him. If Mayweather does come back in 2016, it’ll be to scoop up some more dough and he’ll do that by fighting Pacquiao, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Miguel Cotto. Mayweather would have to take a big pay cut by fighting Khan rather than one of those other fighters. Those fighters would bring Mayweather much more money than Khan would, because those are all PPV fighters. Khan isn’t a PPV fighter in the United States, and I have serious doubts that he ever will be.
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