A good number of fans, along with plenty of experts, felt they had seen the last of Amir Khan after the former 140 pound champ’s loss to Terence Crawford. Amid talk of Khan “quitting” after he was belted by a Crawford low blow, was talk of Khan having no other realistic option than retirement. But Khan is adamant he is not yet done.
Khan, speaking with The National, stated how he fully believes he can become world champion again, pointing out how he has been able to bounce back from KO defeats before now. Khan said he feels he is, even at this stage of his career, better than Manny Pacquiao, Keith Thurman, Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. As much as it seems unlikely either one of these top fighters would look at fighting Khan this year or next year – what would a Khan fight offer them? – the British star insists he could defeat them if given the opportunity.
“It [retirement] never really crossed my mind,” Khan said whilst out in Dubai yesterday. “In the fight (with Crawford) I was still there. He was technically a very good fighter and I did find it quite hard to get to him. But I still think, maybe not against a Crawford….but I still feel I’m better than the guys like Danny Garcia, Lamont Peterson, Keith Thurman, Manny Pacquiao. Those fights could be big still.”
So is Khan delusional, or is he simply a still-determined fighter with bags of heart? Of the fights Khan mentioned, it seems only the Peterson one would be somewhat possible. Like Khan, Peterson (who of course won that controversial decision over Khan back in 2011) is coming off a stoppage loss and has no next fight scheduled. Maybe, in a Repeat or Revenge style fight, these two could actually meet again.
Khan says he aims to have maybe one or two more fights and that at age 32 he is still young and still has the drive needed to train hard. The odds are tremendously high against Khan ever ruling the world again though.