As fans know, the recently defeated Amir Khan, who was crushed after a game effort against middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez, is the number-one contender for the WBC welterweight title held by Danny Garcia. Khan, who has ruled out retirement, has expressed interest in taking a second fight with Garcia, who stopped him inside 4-rounds back in 2012. With his mandatory position, Khan perhaps looks at a revenge fight as a possible quick route back to the top. Yet a number of people, Garcia included, naturally, feel another nasty KO loss would be what Khan would get if he faced Garcia again.
Khan, though, was winning the fight with Garcia, down at 140-pounds, before getting clocked with that huge left hook to the head. Would Khan get caught and stopped again if the two did rumble in a rematch, or is it possible Khan would box smarter and with more caution now that he knows fully how dangerous Garcia is? Has Garcia carried his power up to 147 with him? There would perhaps be some interesting questions answered if the two did fight again, and if Garcia wants to keep his WBC belt, this will indeed be the case.
Garcia, speaking with Sky Sports, said he is fine about taking on Khan a second time, but he warned Khan against making such a “dumb decision.”
“I am pretty sure it could happen but I doubt he will want to fight me after he’s been knocked out because I was the last man who knocked him out before Canelo,” Garcia said. “It could happen. It’s up to him, if he wants to do it, I am down for whatever. I am the champion so I have to defend my title and he is the number one challenger, so that’s what we have to do. Amir Khan wants to be one of the best fighters but the reality is it’s a dumb decision, getting knocked out and then fight the person who knocked him out before that.”
Many people will likely agree with Garcia, and also think it would be a dumb move to go straight into such a tough fight immediately after suffering such a brutal KO. Then again, Khan supporters would once again point to Khan’s bravery (and he has plenty) if he were to take such a big fight in his very next fight. We have no idea how much the bad loss to Canelo will have taken out of Khan, nor do we know how losing all the muscle and weight he packed on to compete as a 155-pounder (161 on the night) will affect Khan. Some fighters, after having moved up in weight, were never the same when attempting to campaign again at their previous lower weight.
The immediate thinking is that Garcia, if he could do it once, would likely KO Khan again. If this did happen, Khan would surely have to call it a career. But Khan has said, many times, that he only wants big fights. If he doesn’t fight Garcia next, then which other big name would he have a good chance of landing a shot at?
On the other hand, if Khan did fight Garcia again and managed to beat him, say by close decision (not altogether unlikely), he would be right back on top and deserving of much praise. Khan took a massive gamble by taking on Canelo, now it looks like he might have to take another big gamble.