Hatton: Khan deserves the Mayweather fight if he beats Collazo

Hatton: Khan deserves the Mayweather fight if he beats Collazo

While some boxing fans feel that a win over 32-year-old Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KO’s) isn’t a big enough win to catapult Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) into a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Ricky Hatton thinks Khan should be given the Mayweather fight off of a victory over Collazo. Hatton admires Collazo’s ability after having beaten him by a 12 round decision 7 years ago when Collazo was much younger and in possession of the WBA 147lb title.

Collazo has been hanging around the sport ever since, but he stopped fighting well known opposition after a loss to Andre Berto in 2009. Collazo went through a 5 year period where he fought largely C level opposition until his win over Victor Ortiz earlier this year. Ortiz is arguably a low B level fighter, if not a C level guy at this point in his career.

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Khan might still be undefeated if he were trained by Oliver Harrison, says Charles

Khan might still be undefeated if he were trained by Oliver Harrison, says Charles

Don Charles, the trainer for heavyweight Dereck Chisora, thinks the three times beaten Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) would still be an unbeaten fighter if he had stuck it out with his original trainer Oliver Harrison. Khan left Harrison early on with his pro career and was trained by a Cuban trainer Jorge Rubio for his loss to Breidis Prescott in 2008.

Khan then moved on after that to trainer Los Angeles, California based trainer Freddie Roach, and after a run of good luck with him, Khan was then beaten in back to back fights by Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Khan then replaced Roach with the Oakland, California based Virgil Hunter, and Khan has since gone 2-0, albeit against weaker opposition than what he had faced with Roach.

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Amir Khan, Luis Collazo media interview transcript

Amir Khan, Luis Collazo media interview transcript

Kelly Swanson

I’m going to go ahead and call this media conference call today the second moment of “THE MOMENT” for a fight that was announced this week. We have Amir “King” Khan and also Luis Collazo joining us today, along with Richard Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Boy Promotions, and Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime. So, very exciting, and I’m going to turn it over to the participants and start with Richard Schaefer, who will make the introductions.

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Luis Collazo: I’m just grateful for this opportunity to be back on top of the boxing world

Luis Collazo: I'm just grateful for this opportunity to be back on top of the boxing world

During Wednesday’s conference call for Amir Khan and Luis Collazo, I had a chance to ask Collazo how he felt about being back on the big stage after he disappeared from the boxing spotlight. He responded by telling me that just talking about it made him emotional. Collazo says “I’m just grateful for this opportunity to be back on top of the boxing world”. He has given his life to god and said that he is no longer on his own time but ” Right now I’m on God’s time”.

Collazo hasn’t lost a fight since 2011 to Freddy Hernandez. Since then he has won four straight with his most recent fight being his most important. His victory over Victor Ortiz put him in the position to challenge Amir Khan as the co-main event to Mayweather-Maidana on Showtime PPV.

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Khan says his fight against Collazo will “steal the show” on May 3rd

Khan says his fight against Collazo will “steal the show” on May 3rd

Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) says his performance against Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KO’s) on May 3d will “steal the show” on the Floyd Mayweather – Marcos Maidana card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan expects to steal the thunder from the headline fight between Mayweather and Maidana by really shining against the 32-year-old Collazo. That may be.

Khan has a guy that he can certainly do that against, as long as he’s careful and doesn’t run into any of Collazo’s right hooks the way that Victor Ortiz did in his 2nd round knockout loss to him last January.

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Mayweather spent a lot of time deciding on his next opponent, says Showtime’s Espiniza

Mayweather spent a lot of time deciding on his next opponent, says Showtime’s Espiniza

Stephen Espinoza, the vice president in charge of sport for Showtime, says that Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) had a hard time trying to decide on who he should fight next for his May 3rd fight card. He was stuck between Marcos Maidana and Amir Khan for his next fight, and he finally decided to go with the smart pick in selecting the more accomplished Maidana instead of the struggling Khan.

Mayweather made the only choice he could make in selecting Maidana, because to select Khan would be a case of Mayweather selecting a guy who Golden Boy Promotions had to put the training wheels back on him after his back to back losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia.

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Khan: I’m going to own the welterweight division

Khan: I’m going to own the welterweight division

Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) hasn’t even fought at welterweight yet, and he’s already seeing himself ruling the division with an iron fist. Khan, 27, is moving up to the 147lb division to face the Golden Boy promoted fighter Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KO’s) on May 3rd on Showtime pay-per-view on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight card.

The fight is supposed to be a competitive one, but Khan is still considered the favorite to win it. It’s not a situation where you can truly say it’s a 50-50 fight.

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Marvelous? Marvin Hagler is not so sure about Floyd Mayweather and his legacy if he doesn’t face Pacquiao, Khan

Marvelous? Marvin Hagler is not so sure about Floyd Mayweather and his legacy if he doesn’t face Pacquiao, Khan

As great and as talented as he is, with many achievements having glorified him during his unbeaten career, has Floyd Mayweather Junior really fought the best opposition he could have faced throughout his time at the top? One man who argues that he himself did just that, in former long reigning middleweight king Marvellous Marvin Hagler, also suggest that Mayweather has not taken on all comers.

In an interview with Mail Online, 59-year-old Hagler, who was part of a golden era that also featured greats Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard, said people will question Mayweather’s willingness to have taken on the best opposition he could have done if he walks away having not fought Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan.

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Khan: Mayweather has to fight me if he wants to be global star

Khan: Mayweather has to fight me if he wants to be global star

It’s not enough that Golden Boy Promotions has set him up as the chief support on Floyd Mayweather Jr’s May 3rd fight card against Luis Collazo instead of the arguably much more dangerous Keith Thurman, but now Khan is trying to entice Mayweather into fighting him by telling him about all the fans that will be watching him fight from India and Pakistan if he chooses him to fight next.

Khan figures that there are over 1 billion people in India and over 300 million in Pakistan, with many of those people choosing to watch the fight.

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Khan says Mayweather told him he’d one of his last three fights

Khan says Mayweather told him he’d one of his last three fights

Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) says he received a personal phone call from Floyd Mayweather Jr. recently and told by him that he’d be one of his last three fights of his career. Mayweather didn’t say at which point that Khan would get a fight against him, but it’s likely to be sooner rather than later depending on how things go with Khan’s fight against veteran Luis Collazo on the undercard of Mayweather’s unification bout against WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana on May 3rd.

The chances are high that if Khan destroys Collazo in impressive fashion, he’ll wind up facing Mayweather at the end of the year if Khan’s schedule permits.

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