By James Slater: Reigning WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan is a very good, potentially great fighter. On this most fans seem to agree. Khan is both naturally talented, exciting to watch and he has an urge to face the best. Also, as a result of his recent, FOTY win over the hard hitting Marcos Maidana, there are less concerns over the 24-year-old’s ability to take a hard shot to the chin.
Now signed up to meet the ever-dangerous Zab Judah in a 140-pound unification fight, Khan is one more win away from yet more praise; yet more respect. And just imagine this for a moment: Khan destroys Judah then, finally, gets it on with WBC/WBO 140-pound boss Tim Bradley and wins, thus unifying the light-welterweight titles; and then Khan moves up to welterweight and wins a title or titles there. That would be a bunch of impressive achievements by Khan to be sure, but not achievements a sensible fan would dismiss as wholly impossible.
Khan was once tipped to become the next superstar of boxing and he may well go on to be recognized as a superstar. Khan is calling for a shot at Floyd Mayweather Junior no less, and it’s hard to even write about how massive a commodity/legend Khan would be if he somehow sealed his dream fight and actually won it!
But just suppose all the above happens. Khan will have secured his place in history, right? But how would this place in history be affected if Amir had achieved all he’d achieved yet not given the only man to have beaten him, the only man to have left him in an undignified heap in less than a single minute, a rematch? Simply put, does Khan have to exact revenge over Colombia’s Breidis Prescott if he hopes to ever secure a blemish-free, untouchable spot in the history books?
Yes, many fans have said a return fight now would be pointless, comparing a Khan-Prescott II to a Manny Pacquiao-Rustico Torrecampo II in the relevance stakes. But shouldn’t Khan, a proud champion and a proud man, feel a deep urge to want to do to Prescott what he did to him? Doesn’t Khan have a sense of pride and doesn’t he want to silence the man who remains active and is still campaigning in the same weight class he is boxing in? Also, it is worth mentioning how Prescott looked a whole lot more impressive in his last fight than “King Khan” did in his.
How kind would the history books be to, say, Joe Louis, if he never avenged his loss to Max Schmeling? How about Ali if he’d never settled the score once and for all with Henry Cooper (who didn’t beat Ali, but came so controversially close to knocking him out). How about what would have happened to fellow Brit Lennox Lewis’ rep had he not sought out and reprimanded both Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman? The list goes on. All the great ones avenge the losses that hurt.
Khan can fight and defeat all the Zab Judahs, the Tim Bradleys, the Marcos Maidanas, even the Floyd Mayweathers he wants. But his career will forever be haunted by a long-limbed predator by the name of Braidys Prescott if he fails to reverse his September 2008 loss. Worst still, how will Khan’s legacy suffer if he never even agrees to go anywhere near Prescott again?
Khan and his fans can claim that a rematch is not needed all they want to. I couldn’t disagree more. How about you guys?