Khan mentions interest in Pacquaio in attempt to draw out Mayweather?

Khan mentions interest in Pacquaio in attempt to draw out Mayweather?

Amir Khan has long been held as one of the many potential opponents for Floyd Mayweather, particularly since the pound-for-pound king agreed to a six-fight deal with Showtime. Stephen Espinoza, the Executive Vice President of Showtime, has agreed that the British man is one of the “leading contenders” to be the unbeaten American’s next challenger when he next makes an appearance in the ring on May 3. However over the holiday period, Khan, somewhat surprisingly, announced that he has signed a contract to fight Mayweather and that he was waiting for Floyd to sign his side of the deal.

2013 saw Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) fight twice in one year for the first time since 2007 – when he defeated Oscar De La Hoya & Ricky Hatton – and this will be the case for 2014 as well. In one of his all-time great performances, the Las Vegas based fighter comprehensively outpointed Canelo Alvarez in September 2013 to take the WBA & WBC light middleweight titles. ‘Money’ as he calls himself, posted a photo to Twitter on Christmas Day mocking Khan (28-3, 19 KOs) by showing the former unified WBA & IBF light welterweight champion getting knocked out, with the caption stating that this would be Khan’s fate should his name get picked in the “Mayweather sweepstakes”.

Khan has been slowly rebuilding his career since he lost his titles in consecutive defeats to Lamont Peterson & Danny Garcia in December 2011 and July 2012 respectively. After his comprehensive knockout at the hands of Garcia, Khan switched trainers from Freddie Roach to Virgil Hunter and has since won his last two contests. In his most recent outing in April of last year, Khan came through against Julio Diaz in a twelve round bout in Sheffield, UK. Despite a disappointing two years compared to the heights that he enjoyed between 2009-2011, Khan is still one of the main attractions in boxing due to his blistering hand speed and power, which combined with his vulnerable defence, means that the Bolton man is very rarely in a boring fight.

Although actively pursuing a fight with Mayweather, Khan has hinted that if the fight were to fall through he would not be opposed to fighting his friend and former sparring partner, Manny Pacquiao. However, this could just well be an attempt to draw out Floyd into signing the contract, as Khan & Pacquiao are signed to rival promoters Golden Boy & Top Rank, which as we all well know means that due to the current ‘cold war’ any fight between the pair is highly unlikely. Stylistically – and more important, financially – a fight between Khan and Pacquiao would be welcomed by most of the boxing community. The questions surrounding Khan’s chin would be somewhat eased by the fact that the fighting pride of the Philippines has not stopped an opponent in any of his last seven outings since halting Miguel Cotto in the twelfth round back in November 2009.

The name of Floyd Mayweather’s next opponent is set to be announced in the middle of January and barring any unexpected problems, the prevalent view is that Amir Khan’s name will be the one picked in the “Mayweather sweepstakes”.

-Dominic Rowan/ @Dom1878

Contributor for www.BehindTheGloves.com