Khan we get someone else for Mayweather?

Most fight fans by now have heard that former junior welterweight champ Amir Khan is the frontrunner for Floyd Mayweather’s next fight in May.  Khan himself has stated that he has signed a contract to that effect, though it appears that Mayweather has yet to sign anything for his part.  And while there are other deserving opponents, it seems more and more each week that Mayweather-Khan will show up on our PPV schedules for May.

To be perfectly honest though, it’s just not an idea I can get behind.  You can argue that Khan has a big name and that he has a skillset that could at least make a fight with Floyd competitive, but I’m not buying it.  For starters, Khan has looked terrible in his last four outings, including losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia (the Garcia fight ending by knockout, by the way). Even in his two wins since those fights, Khan has looked anything but spectacular and his weak chin continues to be a problem, as he again tasted the canvas in his previous fight with Julio Diaz.

Photo: Tom Casino / Showtime

Having spoken to a number of writers and fans, it’s obvious that not many are ecstatic about this potential fight, and it seems more and more like it’s a fight that could be a PPV bust.  So if not Khan, then who else is deserving of a fight with Mayweather? The one fight that fans seem to be getting behind is a potential showdown against Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs), who is coming off an upset win over Floyd’s buddy Adrien Broner.  I’ll be honest and say that I’d pick Floyd to dominate Maidana, much in the same fashion that he did Canelo, but there’s at least public interest in the fight and there would be a good story line going in. Add in the fact that Maidana is always aggressive, has a solid chin and has at least a marquee win in 2013, and an easy argument can be made that he deserves a shot.

Another opponent that has done some good work in recent fights is Erislandy Lara, the number 1 ranked junior middleweight.  Lara (19-1-2, 12 KOs) fought twice in 2013, but they were both excellent wins – a TKO win over Alfredo Angulo and a very impressive decision win over former 154-pound titlist Austin Trout.  Lara’s only loss was a controversial one, a decision loss to Paul Williams, in a fight that was clearly dominated by Lara. Draws to Vanes Martirosyan and Carlos Molina weren’t debilitating to his career or his confidence and he keeps improving.  The tought part about a Mayweather-Lara fight would be selling it, as Lara isn’t very well known to the casual fan and we can’t imagine it doing too well on PPV.  Still this is about discussing who is deserving, more so than who would do bigger live gate numbers, so we stand by Lara as a better option than Khan.

Finally there’s junior welterweight champ Danny Garcia, who is far and away the most deserving fighter to get a shot at Mayweather.  Garcia (27-0, 16 KOs) has really turned it up, going from prospect to contender, to world champion in a matter of three years.  Since a split decision win over Kendall Holt in 2011, Garcia has shown massive improvement from fight to fight and continues to prove the naysayers wrong.  When he fought Khan in 2012, Khan was believed to be too talented for Garcia, but “Swift” proved to be the more talented fighter that night, knocking him out in four rounds. He also looked great against Zab Judah and then put together another excellent performance against Lucas Matthysse last year, when many thought Matthysse was too strong, but Garcia used his boxing skills to frustrate and outpoint the Argentinean.  This one’s a no-brainer and perhaps it’s a fight we can see in the second half of 2014, assuming both Mayweather and Garcia win their next fights.

For those wondering about Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao, both fighters are promoted by Top Rank and a TR-Golden Boy co-promoted main event is just not going to happen any time soon, so let’s forget about it. All there of the previously mentioned fighters are promoted by Golden Boy so they should be easy to put together if all parties involved want to get it done.

Despite his glass jaw, there’s no denying that Khan is a talented fighter, but his skillset wasn’t good enough for Garcia, Breidis Prescott, and it almost wasn’t enough against Julio Diaz.  The bottom line is that he hasn’t done anything since 2011 that warrants the opportunity to take the stage against Mayweather.  Maybe he can keep winning and build himself back up to be an attraction that earns him a shot at Floyd but for now, that’s just not the case.  Unfortunately it may not matter and Khan might end up getting the fight anyway, but until Floyd has signed off on it, there’s still hope for someone else.