Khan wants tune-up against Berto, Rios or Jo Jo for mid-March

By Boxing News - 01/31/2016 - Comments

khan55By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) is interested in facing WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs) by June of this year rather than fighting fellow Brit IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in a big money fight on June 4 at Wembley Stadium in London, UK. According to Fight News, Khan wants to take a tune-up bout in the first two weeks of March against a still to be determined opponent.

The guys that Khan’s management are looking at are well-known fighters in former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (30-4, 23 KOs), former WBA 140lb champ Brandon Rios (33-3-1, 24 KOs) and former world title challenger Jo Jo Dan (35-3, 18 KOs).

A fight against Rios might be difficult because there would be little time for him to drop weight by March, and one can only imagine how much weight he’s put on since his 9th round stoppage loss to WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley last November. Berto was soundly beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September in losing every round of a 12 round fight on Showtime pay-per-view.

Jo Jo Dan was stopped in the 4th round last year by Kell Brook in March 2015. Dan wouldn’t be an ideal fight for Khan, because it would lead to endless comparisons between how Khan deals with Dan compared to the job Brook did on him.

“We’re looking at a date in the first two weeks of March, but we’ve not got an opponent confirmed yet,” Khan’s father Shah Khan told The Mirror.co.uk. “Al Haymon is looking into it and he will come to us as soon as he has something. The Garcia fight is what Amir is looking forward to. He has always wanted the fight and the WBC have mandated it now as well. Both fights – Garcia and Brook – could happen. There are still negotiations with Brook’s people, so nothing is confirmed. If that fight is made, no problem, we will do that before Garcia maybe. Amir would really like to fight Garcia because he made a mistake in the first fight and really wants to put it right.”

So there it is. Khan wants the rematch against Danny Garcia on or before June. Shah says that they want Brook as well, but it looks like Danny Garcia is the number priority at this time. You can perfectly understand why Khan would want to go after the Garcia fight. He previously beat Khan four years ago in 2012 by a 4th round, and it would be a big feather in Khan’s cap to avenge that loss and become the first guy to defeat Garcia. Further, winning the prestigious WBC welterweight title would give Khan more credibility in the boxing world, because he would have a world title at 147 and a lot of fans would see him as more legit. Khan having a world title in his possession might make a future fight between him and Garcia a bigger affair than it would if Khan were a mere challenger without any title.

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It’s pretty important for Khan to take a tune-up before his fight against Garcia, because he hasn’t fought since his close 12 round decision win over Chris Algieri last May. That was eight months ago, and that’s too long of a time for Khan to be out of the ring. It would be foolhardy for Khan to challenge Garcia coming off of a yearlong layoff, which is likely what it’ll be by the time he gets Garcia in the ring to face him.

Garcia has until June to defend his WBC title against Khan after the World Boxing Council ordered him to face him. Thus far, Garcia and his dad/trainer Angel Garcia have been negative on the idea of fighting Khan. They want to fight someone else in what they feel would be a bigger fight. It’s likely the fighter they’re targeting is Kell Brook.

If they could fight him in a stadium in the IK, they would get a career high payday from the fight. If Garcia chooses to vacate his WBC title rather than face Khan, then it’s going to make him look really bad. Garcia already ducked a difficult fight recently in Viktor Postol by choosing to maneuver around him to fight Lamont Peterson, and then after that vacating his WBC title.



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