By Scott Gilfoid: After droning on about how Kell Brook will needs to drain down to 147 pounds for a fight against him, Amir ‘King’ Khan (32-4, 20 KOs) almost didn’t make weight on Friday for his bout against Samuel Vargas (29-3-2, 14 KOs) this Saturday night at the Arena Birmingham, in Birmingham, UK. Khan looked emaciated at the weigh-in, which is a clear sign that he really struggled to make the weight. Khan doesn’t want to admit it but he’s outgrown the welterweight division.
This was the first time that the 5’8” Khan has made the 147 pound limit for a fight since his match against Chris Algieri in 2015. Khan says he wants to get highly ranked at welterweight so that he can fight for a world title, but if he can’t even make weight for the division, it’s hard to imagine him being able to do so. As much trouble Khan had to go through to get down to the 147 pound limit on Friday, you can imagine how this will impact his performance on Saturday night against Vargas. I mean, if Khan is weak and lethargic inside the ring on the night, Vargas may capitalize by knocking him out.
Khan has used excuses in the past about being weight drained when he was knocked out by Briedis Prescott and Danny Garcia. Will Khan trot out that old tried and true excuse if he gets sparked out by Vargas this Saturday night? I’m just saying are a wonderful thing to have, and Khan has been quick to use them in the past, hasn’t he? For once, I’d like to hear Khan say that he was beaten by the better man for a change instead of blaming his losses on him being weight drained.
Khan wants to make a statement on Saturday night by blitzing the hapless Vargas and making quick work of him in the same way that he did in blasting out journeyman/gatekeeper Phil Lo Greco last April.
Indeed, the 31-year-old Khan showed his age in having to strip down completely to weigh-in right at the welterweight limit at 147 pounds on Friday during the weigh-in. It was hilarious because Khan has been blabbering about how he doubts whether the 32-year-old Brook can make the welterweight limit for a fight against him, and here he is almost failing to make weight himself. Vargas, 29, came in at 146 pounds and looked in great shape like a true professional.
“Everything had to come off today and that’s the first time that has happened,” Khan said to Sky Sports after barely weighing in successfully. ”We made the weight so I’m glad. I’m now going to hydrate myself, eat well. This is my natural weight and where I feel strongest. You see the speed, power and explosive at this weight. I have a 100 per cent record in this division. I’m only 31-years old and this is just another day at the office. The best is still ahead of me, I want to be world champion again.”
It’s highly doubtful that Khan will ever win another world title again. Even if Khan were to move back down to 140, he would still unlikely win another world title again, because the light welterweight division is well represented in terms of champions. At 147, Khan will have huge problems trying to beat champions Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Terence Crawford and the winner of the Danny Garcia vs. Shawn Porter fight. Pacquiao is the only champion at welterweight that Khan would have a chance of beating, but he’s more of a paper champion and not the real thing due to him holding the WBA secondary strap. Thurman is viewed as the World Boxing Association’s real champion in the eyes of the fans.
If Khan beats Pacquiao, then he’ll be the new WBA paper champ, and it won’t do much in terms of raising his profile with the casual and hardcore boxing fans. For Khan to impress fans, he needs to beat Spence, Crawford, Thurman, Garcia or Porter to win a real belt. Can Khan beat any of those guys? I’d say absolutely not. I can’t see Khan beating any of those fighters, and I think it would be a really bad idea for him to even attempt to face one of them. Khan is better off facing Kell Brook or Pacquiao, and then hoping that the casual boxing fans are impressed if he beats one or both of them. I’m not sure that Khan can beat Brook unless he’s completely weight drained from draining down to 147 to fight him. If Brook is drained 100 percent from making the 147 pound weight limit, then Khan will have a chance of defeating him if he’s not drained himself.
Yeah, it’s true that Khan is unbeaten at 147, but he hasn’t exactly been chomping at the bit to face the talents in the welterweight division like Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter. The only guy that Khan has been beating the drum to fight is the shot 39-year-old Manny Pacquiao, who is someone who is living off the memories of over 3,000 yesterday’s ago. He’s not the same fighter he was ages ago, and it’s disappointing that Khan is targeting him rather than Spence, Crawford, Thurman or the Garcia vs. Porter winner. Those are the younger lions that Khan should be looking to fight.
Khan emerged from a 2-year layoff last April in blowing out Phil Lo Greco by a 1st round knockout in dropping him twice at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. The fight was stopped in 39 seconds of the 1st round on April 21, 2018. Khan attributes his explosive victory over the 34-year-old Canadian Lo Greco to his hand surgery on his right hand that he had done during his 2-year layoff. Khan says that he had been having problems with his right hand for a number of years, and it kept him from being able to put maximum power in his shots with that hand. But with the surgery, Khan is now able to punch with power with his right hand, and he believes he’s now a knockout threat to anyone in the welterweight division. However, Khan’s major problem during his career is his inability to take a major shot without getting hurt and knocked out. I hate to say it, but that’s not going to change no matter many hand surgeries that he has on his right hand.
