Despite all the current hoopla about the supposedly upcoming Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather Jr. record-breaking fight next year, Pakistan-born, British boxer Amir Khan seems to know something that most boxing fans don’t.
It seems like Khan knows that the world’s most anticipated boxing bout would not be happening anytime soon that he is now back taunting the pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr. to give him a crack in fighting him in 2015.
Amir Khan is a former junior welterweight champion who has been looking to get a date in the ring with Money since last year.
In a recent interview by Fight Hub TV and posted by SB Nation, Amir Khan disclosed that he feels that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is an easier opponent for him compared to Manny Pacquiao.
Excellent defense has been Mayweather’s arsenal in defeating larger and more powerful punchers, acknowledges Khan.
But the boxer from Bolton, England, who’s currently toting a 30-3 win-loss record, with 19 knockouts tucked into his belt, says that his hand speed would just be too much for Mayweather’s defense to solve.
Ultimatum
In the latest report of Boxing News 24, Khan was quoted as saying that he is just giving Floyd Mayweather Jr. until the middle of January 2015 to start negotiations for their possible fight. If he does not hear or see any movement coming from the Mayweather camp by then, Khan will move on and look for another opponent for a possible fight around the middle of next year.
Boxing aficionados however think that Amir Khan may be giving himself too much credit if he thinks Mayweather would lose sleep over his ultimatum.
The report thinks that Mayweather is looking for big names in boxing to fight, someone who could bring in the money in terms of pay-per-view audience, which he currently lords over in the US.
While Amir Khan is a pay-per-view draw in the UK, he is not on equal terms with Mayweather when it comes to the US market, which is obviously the bigger market of the two.
Should Khan fails to get a date in the ring with Mayweather for next year, his two big name options would be Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao.
Khan would be hardpressed to beat Pacquiao for sure as he was Pacman’s sparring partner when he was training under world-class trainer Freddie Roach several years back. During those sparring sessions, he felt Pacquiao’s power and got a couple of beatings in the process, although officially, they have yet to face each other in the ring.
No way Khan can beat Money
But Floyd Mayweather Sr., Money’s coach and trainer, thinks that Khan seems to be courting disaster when he challenged Floyd Jr. to a fight.
Early in October, in a report by Fighthype, Floyd Sr. was downplaying Khan’s hand speed to offset the defense of Money, saying that speed is nothing compared to Floyd Jr.’s ring smarts. The father believes that Khan cannot out-think his son in the ring because Floyd Jr. is also a good counter-puncher.
Khan would get punished in the ring if the fight with Money pushes through, states Floyd Sr. with conviction.