Amir Khan boxing news
Britain’s biggest promoter Eddie Hearn, who looks after IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, has poured scorn on suggestions that Floyd Mayweather will face his fighter for the final fight of his Showtime contract in September.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Hearn said of the suggestion;
“Kell Brook is not a big enough fight for Floyd Mayweather. Floyd doesn’t want to fight young lions and that includes Brook and Amir Khan.”
After Floyd Mayweather’s career defining fight on Saturday, it would seem that the tears of millions of Filipino’s were not yet dry when one man ringside – former 2x 140lb champion Amir Khan – spoke to BBC radio 5live to say he is the man in prime position to face BOTH Mayweather and Pacquiao next.
Khan, who faces light-punching American Chris Algieri on May 29th as part of the PBC broadcast from the Barclays Centre, New York, said;
“I’m in a position where I could fight both, but I want Mayweather.”
We are only a few days away now from the fight which almost everyone wants to see – Mayweather vs Pacquiao. In the build up to the fight the focus has strongly been on three things – How much money the fight is generating, why it took so long to make the fight happen and who folks believe is going to win. Most predictions have surprisingly favoured Floyd Mayweather Jr. I am not too sure why, perhaps because he is undefeated and always wins. The fight has not been without its detractors though, and rightly so. Both guys are past their prime, the fans are getting ripped off with prices for the PPV and tickets (if indeed they could get any) and the fight has been blown out of proportion and should be recognized for what it truly is – a final eliminator to face the sensational pound for pound number 1 fighter on the planet, Britain’s great Amir Khan.
Amir Khan has hit back at ex-trainer Freddie Roach who said that the British fighter maybe lacks the intestinal fortitude to square off against either of the world’s two premier 147lb fighters, in Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Roach, who once said that Manny had Khan down 4 times in sparring, is arguably bitter over the Bolton man’s decision to “defect” to Virgil Hunter after his crushing defeat to Danny Garcia back in 2012.
He said of Khan; “Amir should be calling out my man or Mayweather, but he doesn’t have the balls”
It’s looking increasingly likely that Britain’s Amir Khan (30-3, 19ko), who fights American Chris Algieri (20-1, 8ko) in New York on May 29th, will have to give up on his dream of fighting Floyd Mayweather, a fight he has been chasing for the better part of 2 and a half years.
Mayweather has stated equivocally that win or lose on May 2nd, his last fight will be in September.
“My last fight will be in September. I don’t know who I will fight in September, but I shan’t be overlooking anyone”
Khan expects to win the Mayweather lottery or to get the congressional consolation prize, he believes he is entitled to fight the winner (or loser) of the May 2 mega fight. If it ends in a draw or develops into a sequel, he may watch both veterans retire before he gets his turn in the money shower. Khan recently neglected a lucrative offer to fight Kell Brook which fueled criticism and raised additional doubts. He will need a stay busy fight even if he acts like a boxing prima donna who can afford to get up from bed only for multi million contracts. Biding your time with a minimum threat opponent and saving face at the same time may not be so simple especially when 3 glaringly unavenged losses are pending further action.
Following a week of great significance in the UK welterweight ranks, there appears, as ever, more questions than answers . After a tumultuous period since his high profile win over ‘future superstar’ Shawn Porter last August, Kell Brook returned from his career threatening leg stabbing injury against IBF mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan. Whilst the Canadian based Romanian brought heart and desire to the ring, it was evident early on there was an ocean of class between the pair. Eventually seeing off his challenger in the fourth round following an equal number of knockdowns, Brook didn’t even need to be at his best on this occasion, and seemed to show no signs of any lingering problems with the leg. The post-fight interviews included the inevitable calling out of Amir Khan, a natural fight in everybody’s eyes, unless your named Amir Khan or Al Haymon!
What people say and what people do in boxing very rarely align, that much is clear. So, when Amir Khan, 30-3 (19KO’s), announced today that he is to face Chris Algieri, 20-1 (8KO’s), in New York on 30th May – aside from the initial thoughts of hypocrisy – I wasn’t at all surprised.
This is the same man who has informed the reigning IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook to consider facing some more notable names, before he would be considered worthy of sharing a ring with him.
Step in Chris Algieri, a man who has fought at 147lbs once in his short professional career and was knocked down 6 times in that fight by Manny Pacquiao back in November. Algieri is a likable guy and a decent fighter, but in a molten welterweight division he’s nowhere to be seen.
For a while it seemed as though Amir Khan would get his dream of a super fight against either Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao. It was certainly unlikely that they were going to fight each other, and they would both need opponents and Khan was coming off a supremely dominant performance over former world champion Devon Alexander.
Amir Khan has had a lot of ups and downs in his career, but it seemed as though all the chasing had been doing was going to pay off one way in another. Unfortunately for him they ended up making the fight and he was left out in the cold without an opponent or a world title. His last fight was in 2014, and so surely will now be searching for a good named opponent to try and nab a match with one of these guys at a later date, or another big fight at the very least.