Park Life » Will Amir Khan get a chance to fight Floyd Mayweather?
Image: Chamber Of Fear via Flickr Creative Commons
There’s been a lot of talk recently on the other side of the pond our very own Amir Khan chasing a fight with Floyd Mayweather. Now I realise this may be somewhat out of the blue and many of Khan doubters will be laughing at the mere thought of this chinny little no-name taking on the biggest draw in the sport but on closer inspection it really could be an interesting matchup. First of all Khan is faster than Mayweather. You can doubt his technique, his ring intelligence and certainly his resilience but one thing about Khan that is beyond question is his hand speed. He is one of very few people that have quicker gloves that Floyd and possibly even quicker than his stable-mate Manny Pacquiao, but more on him later.
Also he is taller than Floyd. Although he is relatively new to the light welterweight division Khan is still very big at the weight, so much so that his camp seems to think he’ll end up at light-middleweight. Finally, he has Freddy Roach. The Amir Khan of today is a completely different fighter to the one that was knocked down by Willie Limond, or knocked out by Breidis Prescott. He’s more rounded, more patient and more protective of that inescapable weakness; a glass jaw. By learning to fight tall and long, standing behind a lightning jab and picking the right moment to follow with the right rather than winging in from ridiculous angles while hopelessly off balance, Khan has hardly had to take a shot in the five fights since moving over to the Wild Card Gym.
All of this praise probably makes it seem like I fancy ‘Our Amir’ to take ‘Pretty Boy’ to school and box his head off, become the first man to beat the pound for pound king, maybe the first man to knock him out. Well of course not. Floyd would have to go into the fight as a massive favourite. He has achieved too much, beat too many good fighters to be considered as anything less than odds on to beat Khan. My point is that he would be a bigger favourite against almost anyone else. We waited a decade for him to fight Mosley but by the time he did Sugar Shane’s natural attributes had withered to the extent for the last 10 rounds Floyd could treat it almost as a sparring session. We hoped the People’s Champion of British boxing, Ricky Hatton could write his name into the history books against Mayweather but after a few tight early rounds the Hitman ended up mangled and embarrassed, stopped in the middle of the ring. And that’s it. There’s no-one else out there.
Well, there is one man; Manny Pacquiao.
So rarely have the two best fighters in the world been the two biggest box office draws. And even rarer for them to both fight in the same division. To those blessed with even an ounce of common sense it seems inconceivable that this fight; the biggest and most significant fight in our lifetime might not get made, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that may very well be the case. For reasons too numerous, confusing and just plain irritating to go through that fight appears to be dead in the water with both fighters looking for replacement opponents. Tomorrow evening Pacman will be going toe to toe with Antonio Margarito in a fight most fight fans wish wasn’t happening for reasons of principle I won’t go into right now, while Floyd juggles legal problems from things that occur in his private life.
And so Khan waits. Of course there’s the small matter of a title defence against supremely powerful but equally limited Marcus Maidana in December followed by a probable unification fight against the winner of Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander. But if he gets past those obstacles and the Pretty Boy avoids prison then everyone; Khan, Roach, and Golden Boy Promotions, seems agreed that a mega fight against Floyd is a real possibility next year. And he has a chance, at least a better chance than almost anyone else, of dethroning the best fighter in the world.
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Spot on. although getting past the like of alexander or bradley will be difficult in itself.
“In two weeks Pacman will be going toe to toe with Antonio Margarito”. The fight is tomorrow!
Apologies, that’s rectified now. My fault for the delay in the article going up.
Mayweather won’t fight Amir Khan. The same reason – Scared.
first of all khan is punching well above his weight and second of all zab judah was quicker than floyd?? but floyd being floyd adjusted so whats gonna happen when he adjusts? the same thing that always happens he gets a win….as much respect i have for khan i think he needs to try clear up the LWW division first….
Floyd don’t wanna fight a top contender. He’s avoided them all since coming up to 147 (cotto, clotty, margarito, williams, tszyu). Mayweather even seemed to have some degree of difficulty with journeyman zab judah.
Not to mention, Maidana is a very tough fighter. Since Maidana’s victory over Victor Ortiz, I’d say he’s looking like the best fighter at 140lbs and if Amir Khan doesn’t beat him, Floyd would be presented with nothing to gain.
Mayweather’s a gimmick he fights unqualified fighters and wash-ups, never the best. I think if Khan prevails over Maidana he should go for supreme greatness of the 140′s against the winner of the Devon Alexander fight.
Floyd Mayweather is scared of Amir Khan?? Hahahahaha I think that’s the most ridiculous statement I’ve ever seen posted on Nouse.
Floyd is one of the most gifted athletes of our generation, he has never been hurt never mind knocked down. He doesn’t produce flashy knockouts but he just humiliatingly schools anyone he comes up against. Tactically he is amongst the best ever, he is expert at exploiting flaws in any technique.
Amir Khan is strong and has great handspeed but don’t try telling me Floyd couldn’t totally embarrass and dismantle a guy who recently was brutally koed by breidis prescott and put on the canvas by nobodies like graham earl and michael gomez.
Another classic example of people believing the nonsense that is perforated by the British press.
I still think Pacquiao – Mayweather will happen. There is simply too much money at stake for it not to.
@Joe Calzaghe. Mate get your facts right before speaking. Amir khan knocked out Graham. Earl within a minute. And that guy has not even been knocked out so early by katsidis.
@jimmy….at thae time zab fought mayweather zab judah wasnt a journey man??? he was champion when floyd fought him but guess your just trying to play down the win….since re watching the fight zab was alot faster and gave mayweather trouble until he adjusted? (which what will happen with khan) but to say zab was a journey man is bullsh*t as even now i would say he was a gatekeeper (a saying which i believe is a level above journeyman)….
@rage…calzaghe is correct…he was put on canvas by gomez so instead of telling him to get his facts right i suggest you read the question right…he said khan was put on the canvas??
meant to say Willie Limond not Graham Earl. Given that Limond is even more of a nobody than Earl, this only goes to further the point. He has 8 kos in 36 fights yet was on the verge of obliterating khan.
i’m sure floyd is bricking it.
Khan needs to beat one or two credible fighters to even tempt Mayweather into a fight, and by the time he’s done that, Mayweather will probably be retired.
A washed up Barrera, Malignaggi with 5 KOs to his name, and Salita who’d never fought for a world title before are nowhere near the same league as Mayweather.
At least Maidana is a step in the right direction, but I can’t see him beating either Bradley or Alexander which are the logical solutions if he wins.
Also, Khan isn’t a big enough name for Mayweather to take a risk. He’ll be wanting a go at the winner of Williams v Martinez next- two proven fighters who have beaten some big names.
‘chinny’? bit racialist
It’s a fight I’d like to see, but I don’t think it’ll ever happen. Khan presents too much of a threat relative to his name recognition stateside. I still think Floyd’s supercomputer of a boxing brain quickly works out Khan’s style and UDs him, but it won’t happen anyway. The only fighter (probably) that Floyd will fight is Pacquiao, and he ought to lose that one.