Left-Hook Lounge: Mayweather (Decision and Legacy), Khan’s Rant, and Bradley/Pacquiao Testing Fiasco!

02/24/2014 Vivek Wallace

Melvin A. (Cincinnati, OH): It appears Mayweather will take the Maidana fight. We haven’t seen Mayweather against a really fast fighter since Judah, so I liked Khan as the option. Why Maidana? And how can you explain your Facebook comment that this fight will be “epic”?

Vivek W. (ESB): How can I support Maidana as the option? Pretty easily, actually! In only three words I can lay out a case far stronger than any most would use to combat it: “HE EARNED IT”! I can understand questions relative to how Guerrero, or even Ortiz landed a shot; but with Maidana, there’s no such question. The guy earned it! When we look at Maidana’s past, what I like is the fact that this is a fighter who has been through all the elements of the sport. He has celebrated victory and dealt with the torment relative to defeat. Through it all, he’s still standing, and making great improvement every time he enters the ring. Robert Garcia has done a very admirable job with him, and the victory over Broner was proof of this.

Khan’s contingency plan

02/22/201402/22/2014 Ronan Smith

It would be nice to think that the line has been drawn through the whole Mayweather and Khan chronicles, at least for the time being anyway, but it is difficult to imagine that Khan has seriously discarded any ambition of being handed the May 3rd slot against the number one pound-for-pound king.

Yesterday Khan sent out a stream of tweets suggesting that the fight was dead; whether he actually knows anything official or not can only be speculated but it appears that he has had enough of Mayweather’s lack of communication and is moving on to a plan B. There is however a hint of suggestion that Khan may not be revealing all, given how he wishes luck to Maidana in the Mayweather fight, against the probable scenario where he is just regarding the fight’s other front-runner.

Khan announces Mayweather’s next fight for him

02/21/2014 Rob Smith

Good luck to Maidana, against mayweather.

— Amir Khan (@AmirKingKhan) February 21, 2014

Showing perhaps the main reason why Floyd Mayweather Jr. maybe changed his mind about wanting to fight him, Amir Khan came out today and announced Mayweather’s next fight for him by telling everyone on his twitter that Mayweather will be fighting Marcos Maidana next on May 3rd.

Khan: Mayweather cherry picks to make himself look good

02/21/2014 Rob Smith

Amir Khan is starting to sound increasingly unhappy with Floyd Mayweather Jr. judging by his comments in interviews and on his twitter account. With each day that goes by, it seems more and more likely that Mayweather won’t be giving Khan a fight on May 3rd and that seems to be getting to the British fighter. Khan thought he had the fight with Mayweather after winning his poll competition against Marcos Maidana. Mayweather, however, appears to have other ideas for his May 3rd fight instead of Khan. A lot of Boxing fans think Khan is desperate for a retirement fight against Mayweather.

In an interview today, Khan took the opportunity to lash out at Mayweather, saying that he’s slower than he used to be, and that he’s fighting slow opponents because he’s slowed down with his ability to get around the ring.

Arum: What Mayweather has done to Khan is disgraceful!

02/19/2014 Rob Smith

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is all bent out of shape with the way that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has treated Britain’s Amir Khan by not naming him as his next opponent for May 3rd, and having him compete for the fight with Marcos Maidana on his website poll at Mayweatherpromotions.com.

Khan won the poll, but Mayweather still hasn’t named him as his next opponent yet. Arum says he would never do that with his fighters in his stable, and he thinks that Khan should “cut his ties with them.” Arum thinks Mayweather has decided to fight Maidana instead of Khan.

Mayweather Should Have Picked Khan!

02/19/2014 Enlightened-One

Based on recent media reports, it is highly likely that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will probably face Marcos Maidana rather than Amir Khan on Cinco de Mayo weekend (May 3rd), which is a bit of a shame if you ask me, because I feel that a contest against the Brit would have raised the global profile of boxing.

From a purely financial perspective, it made sense for Mayweather Jr. to face Amir Khan, with Broner fighting on the undercard trying to gain some measure of revenge over Marcos Maidana.

However, a lot of casual fans of the sport feel (quite justifiably) that Amir Khan didn’t deserve the privilege of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr., because he has lost two of his last four bouts and has never achieved anything at welterweight (other than gaining a controversial decision victory over Julio Diaz).

Ward likes Khan’s speed and power

08/01/201402/18/2014 Bill Phanco

WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward has gotten the chance to see Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) up close now that he’s training in the same gym as him in Oakland, California with trainer Virgil Hunter, and Ward likes what he seems. He feels that Khan is throwing with more power than he did previously now that he’s with Hunter, and he thinks he could give anyone in boxing a tough time. Ward didn’t touch on the subject of Khan fighting Mayweather, but obviously he includes him when he says Khan would give anyone trouble.

“He’s [Khan] awkward and hits harder than guys realize,” Ward said to Hustleboss. “He has an awkward style and it works for him. It’s effective. Just the awkwardness, the speed and the pop that he has. I think that would give anyone trouble on any given night.”

Ariza thinks Mayweather may be looking at all the polls in deciding his next opponent

09/15/201602/17/2014 Rob Smith

Who says @FloydMayweather is only looking at one poll and not the TOTAL, of all the polls to decide who He fights next.#justsaying

— Alex Ariza (@ArizaFitness) February 17, 2014

Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr. may be using more than one poll in coming to a decision about who he should fight next between Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana. Khan thought he had the It makes sense. Maidana smashed Khan in three independent polls – ESPN, Fightnews and RingTV – in winning by wide margins where fans weren’t required to log in with a Facebook or Twitter account in order to vote.

Khan: People want to see Mayweather with a different style than Maidana’s

08/01/201402/17/2014 Bill Phanco

Amir Khan is still trying to sell himself as the right opponent for Floyd Mayweather Jr. by pointing out the flaws in the game of WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana. Khan believes that fans ultimately will prefer himself as Mayweather’s next opponent rather than Maidana because fans have already seen Mayweather fight a lot of slow fighters. So they now will want to see him face a guy with quick hands and quick feet. Khan thinks Mayweather had problems beating Zab Judah many years ago due to Judah’s fast hands. Khan thinks that this is the weakness in Mayweather’s game him fighting guys with hand speed.

“People want to see Floyd in with a different style,” Khan said to Hustleboss. “If you think about the last three opponents Floyd has faced, they got slow feet, slow hands…I think that suits Floyd Mayweather. What Floyd Mayweather has problems with is speed, explosiveness, and movement, which not many fighters bring to him.”

Mayweather still not ready to announce his next opponent

09/15/201602/17/2014 Bill Phanco

Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana are still very much in the running for the May 3rd fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. For whatever reason, it’s taking Mayweather longer this time to announce his next opponent compared to in the past. That’s probably a good thing for the fans because it hopefully means he won’t be selecting an opponent that fans project to have absolutely no chance of winning.

Unfortunately, you can make a pretty good case that both Khan and Maidana are guys that Mayweather will easily deal with on May 3rd, so in that sense they’re interchangeable. The only difference between them is that one of them will bring in more pay-per-view buys than the other, and obviously Mayweather and his team are trying to figure that out so that they don’t end up with an opponent that boxing fans feel will have no chance.