By James Slater – Though Amir Khan, by his own admission, faces an extremely dangerous opponent in his fast-approaching December 11th title defence against Argentine banger Marcos Maidana, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer is already thinking about the reigning WBA 140-pound champion’s next fight.
Of course, Schaefer, like Oscar De La Hoya, is of the belief that “King” Khan will defeat Maidana in his Las Vegas debut; even if a good number of fight fans are not so sure.. Golden Boy have big plans for Khan – including, one day, a fight between he and the great Floyd Mayweather Junior – and a loss to Maidana is pretty much unthinkable. But just who will Khan face in his fight after Maidana, if he does win a week on Saturday?
Schaefer has a list of possible future opponents for Khan, revealed Ringtv.com, and the Bolton man’s co-promoter said Khan’s next fight, whoever it is against, will take place in the U.K.
“He’ll definitely fight in the U.K in his next fight,” Schaefer told Ringtv.com. “I think that’s important for him. HBO is interested in televising a Khan fight from the U.K. We just need to come up with the right opponent.”
And who might the right opponent be? Schaefer mentioned the unbeaten Joan Guzman, the recently-defeated Michael Katsidis, one-time Khan conqueror Breidis Prescott and unbeaten Brit John Murray as options. Schaefer spoke highly about an all-British clash.
“I think that fight would fill up the M.E.N arena in Manchester,” he said of Khan-Murray. “That’s the kind of fight we’re looking for.”
No doubt, a Khan Vs. Murray clash would be a huge event in the U.K, and the unbeaten lightweight has said many times he would move up in weight for such a chance. But what about the other possibilities Schaefer mentioned?
Guzman, 30-0-1(17) and a former titlist at super-bantamweight, super-featherweight and lightweight, would make an interesting choice for Khan. Now campaigning at 140-pounds, the man from the Dominican Republic is perhaps getting on in age somewhat (he’s 34 now), but he has a ton of experience and he can box and punch. No doubt, a win over Guzman would look good on Khan’s record. And, though it was a long time ago, Guzman has boxed in the U.K before.
A Khan-Michael Katsidis fight would have been a great match-up, had the tough Aussie not just been manhandled and comprehensively beaten up by Juan Manuel Marquez. If Khan were to beat “The Great” now, he would be criticised for picking on a man coming off a brutal loss. Sure, the fight would sell in the U.K, but would Khan pick up a lot of credit for becoming the fourth man to defeat the former interim WBO lightweight champ? And would Katsidis want to move up to 140 for the fight?
Personally, the name I’d pick from Schaefer’s list is Breidis Prescott. The Colombian banger already holds that quick win over Khan, and fans have wanted to see if Khan can extract revenge ever since the 2008 1st-round KO. And though Prescott hasn’t in truth done all that much since winning the biggest fight of his career, he has at least fought up at 140-pounds, and he has won his last two. And, most importantly, a Prescott-Khan II would do huge business in the U.K. Think of it: would Khan wipe the slate clean with a revenge win, or would Prescott’s long arms get to the WBA champ’s chin a second time? No doubt, a sell out crowd would pay good money to find out!