By Michael Collins: Kelly Pavlik was really slathering on the compliments for Amir Khan recently by saying he thinks Khan’s got what it takes to beat undefeated WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., according to an interview at esnewsreporting.com. Pavlik likes Khan’s hand speed and thinks that, along with his height, it would be enough possibly for Khan to be the first to beat Mayweather.
Here’s what Pavlik said to Ellie Sechbach at esnewsreporting.com: “If there’s anyone out there that can beat Mayweather, even though he [Khan] didn’t look that great in his last fight, because of his height and speed, it’s Amir Khan. His hand speed is phenomenal.”
While I had a lot of respect for Pavlik during his heyday as the WBC/WBO middleweight champion, I don’t see things his way about Khan. I actually think the complete opposite than Pavlik. I think Khan would get whipped by Mayweather, countered all night until getting stopped in a one-sided fight.
The only way I could see Khan lasting for any length of time is if he were to shove Mayweather Jr. every time he got close like Khan was doing in the Lamont Peterson fight. If Khan were land a jab and then shove Mayweather or grab him around the head and crank down on it, maybe Khan could pull off an ugly win.
But you’d have to have a referee that was completely asleep at the wheel to let Khan shove Mayweather and grab around the head all night long. I’d like to think there are at least a few referees that believe in controlling fouls because Khan went wild with the shoving in the Lamont Peterson fight last December. But the question to put to Pavlik is as such: If Khan can’t even beat Peterson, then how on earth can he beat someone like Mayweather?
Is Pavlik saying Peterson is better than Mayweather? I think Pavlik is out in the stratosphere with that belief. I believe Mayweather would easily beat Khan and make him look bad. He’d pick Khan apart each time he’d try and throw his wild flurries. Khan misses with a lot of his shots and he’d be open game for Mayweather’s counter punches.
I see the Mayweather-Khan fight as huge a mismatch, and it’s interesting that Khan is in such a big hurry to get the fight, as if he wants to get the bout before gets beat again and taken out of the Mayweather lottery selection process.