Many people were expecting an announcement during the superbowl for a confirmed Mayweather vs Pacquiao event. This did not happen. It is now coming out that there are a lot of problems in keeping this fight from being made. Largely the old issues of blood testing and money splits have been squashed, however they have been replaced by new issues such as the promotional split between Showtime and HBO.
A meeting between the two boxing icons was seen at a Miami Heat-Wilwaukee Bucks game and this sent another wave of excitement through the boxing world as videos surfaced of the two speaking at the game and reportedly exchanging private contact information. Then a meeting at a hotel between the two occurred and it was believed that real steps were being made to secure this fight for the fans. However it seems a wall has been hit somewhere as no new developments have been made since and the May 2nd date is rapidly approaching.
For many hardcore fans they have heard this song and seen this dance before in the seven year on-off talks between the two fighters and have become numb to it. In all honesty the likelihood of this bout happening is slim at best and what is probably happening behind the scenes is a hunt for alternative opponents. Englands Amir Khan is one name who is likely near the top of this list. Whilst Miguel Cotto has fought both superstars in the past and has lost on both occasions, Khan has fought neither. Khan is coming off two wide points decisions over good fighters in Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander in 2014 and has looked far too good for that calibre of fighter. Whilst there are still questions about his chin after his rough knockout loss to lineal 140lb champ Danny Garcia in 2012, he has rebuilt his reputation as a good fighter at this point, and would surely be viewed as a better challenge than some recent opposition such as Chris Algieri, Brandon Rios or Marcos Maidana.
Khan met with Pacquiao in London recently and won a poll set up by Mayweather before his first meeting with Maidana and things like this show that he is on the radar of these big fighters and is certainly in the discussion for a super fight should the fight between Mayweather and Pacquaio fall through. The question is which fight would he get and how would he fare? He would certainly be the underdog in both cases but his hand speed and combination punching could make for an interesting nights boxing, plus his fan bases in the UK and Asia could make for some decent pay per view numbers.
In the next few weeks it is likely we will find out about the case of these fighters and an announcement will likely be made in some form, and unless the super fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather can be made I would bet on Khans name coming up somewhere.
