by Jenna J– On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with former WBA/IBF Light Welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18KOs) who is set to face Danny Garcia (23-0, 14KOs) on July 14th. Amir spoke on a variety of topics including his upcoming title fight, Lamont Peterson’s positive drug test, if he would have any interest in a rematch with Peterson, rumors of a possible fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr and whether of not this is his last fight at 140lbs. Here is what Amir had to say.
Thoughts on his upcoming fight with Danny Garcia:
“We expect another tough fight, I’ve had some great wins in Las Vegas, beaten Maidana, beaten Zab Judah for ibf, so make this the third one against Danny Garcia. Danny Garcia brings a lot to the table really, he unbeaten, he has the WBC title, and I think when a fighters unbeaten he has a lot of confidence, and I’m sure he does not want to taste to defeat, so at the end of the day we are going to train hard, cause I have tasted defeat before and I don’t want to taste defeat again”
Regarding Lamont Peterson’s positive test and whether he believes he should be given back the belts he lost in December :
“Well basically Lamont Peterson is a cheat! We knew from day one that there was something there that I have never seen before, in the fight against me he was coming forward, and have never seen him come forward so much and be so aggressive and take so many shots and come back from them after being put down twice in the first round and him using his head and everything, it was a tough fight! “I knew there was something wrong in that fight and I’m glad that the Nevada commission, anti doping caught him and is cleaning up the sport of boxing. About the titles, I’ll leave to the commission, the boxing board if they want to restate me or put it in the next fight, but I think they should restate me as champion.”
If he would still be interested in having a rematch with Lamont Peterson:
“Yeah! I would love to cause at the end of the day is was a great fight, a great fight for the fans. I would love to fight Lamont Peterson again if he is off steroids, but if he is still on them he is a threat to my career and my life. Other then that if it’s going to be fair and he’s not going to take anything, it will be an easy win for us. I think that’s what kept him in the fight so long, cause if he was not on anything I think I would of stopped him in a couple of rounds, cause it shows that it helps an opponent when you take banned substances.
His view on why a rematch with Presis Prescott never happened:
“HBO would not buy the fight, also sky TV in the UK did not want it and TV pays the big money, so It does not makes sense for me to fight him, because there is no money in the fight, don’t get me wrong I’d love to take the fight on, because I’d like to settle the score, but at the end of the day boxing is a business, if you’re not going to pay me then I don’t think I should go in there really”
On Rumors of a possible fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr:
“Yeah, In the world of boxing there are very few names that can sell tickets and can get big TV viewing figures now, and I’m sure Mayweather is already talking about fighting me, so yeah, definitely, it’s about timing in this game and Mayweather has shown in his last fight that he’s getting caught more, his feet have slowed down a lot, his defense is not like it use to be, his upper body, lateral movement is not the same anymore, but you can’t take anything away from him cause he’s a great fighter.
His thoughts on how Miguel Cotto performed against Mayweather, and how ambitious he is step into the ring with Floyd:
Cotto was maybe on his A game for that fight, Cotto boxed really well, so you can’t say that mayweather did not box well, Cotto boxing amazingly that’s why he caught he caught Mayweather with some great shots. “I would love to take that fight against Mayweather one day, its an ambition of mine to fight the best out there, just like every fighter’s ambition to fight the best, my ambition is to fight Mayweather!.”
On If this will be his last fight at 140lb and his prediction for upcoming bout with Danny Garcia:
“Ya, this will be the last fight at 140lbs, then we will move on to bigger and better things. Prediction, I never go into a fight wanting to knock someone out, or believing I’m going to knock someone out in this round, but I really believe I’m going to knockout Danny Garcia”
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