By James Slater: First it was Lamont Peterson, then Paul McCloskey was in, and now we are back to square-one when it comes to who WBA 140-pound champ Amir Khan will defend his belt against in the UK on April 16th. Reportedly, Peterson asked for “too much money,” and the financial offer McCloskey was presented with was “a joke” according to his promoter Eddie Hearn.
Now, with Team-McCloskey seemingly out for good – “As far as I can see the fight is dead,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “We’ll certainly not be going back to them to negotiate.” – a number of other names are being bandied about as possibilities for the SKY Box-Office event (crazy, for Sky to have a Pay-Per-View date set, with no opponent nailed down for the defending champ!).
Breidis Prescott has and still is putting his name out there. In fact, the Colombian slugger who starched Khan inside a single minute back in 2008, seems almost desperate to land the fight. Some people feel it should be the other way around, that it should be Khan who is aching for the rematch, so as to wipe the slate clean. But for whatever reason (Khan says Prescott “has fallen off the radar”), Khan and his team seem uninterested in facing the twice-beaten banger in April.
European lightweight champ John Murray, another undefeated fighter, has been mentioned as another option for April, as has Aussie warrior Michael Katsidis. But as much as certain fighters have been mentioned as possible challengers, nothing is in any way solid. And time is running out.
To me, the easy, the simple, the logical thing to do, is to place a call to Prescott’s people and offer him the fight he wants. Hearn said his fighter was offered “peanuts,” and as such McCloskey walked. But as Hearn pointed out, the Irishman is undefeated and he holds the European title at 140-pounds. As such he has other options. But does Prescott? With that wide points loss to the then unbeaten Kevin Mitchell still hanging over him, and with no other big fights on the horizon, maybe Prescott will agree to take poor money to fight Khan. Knowing that if he repeats his 2008 KO he will earn big time anyway, perhaps Prescott will agree to whatever money Golden Boy offer him.
But does Khan want the fight? Do his promoters? Do the fans? Khan has to fight someone, and Prescott is clearly the most available attractive choice for April.