Amir Khan says that Floyd Mayweather Jr is running from him because he won’t agree to fight him. Khan instead is now targeting Manny Pacquiao for his next fight if the Filipino fighter doesn’t end up facing Mayweather next on May 2nd.
“Who wants to see Khan vs. Pacquiao because I know Mayweather’s running,” Khan said on his twitter.
I’m sure that a lot of boxing fans would love to see Pacquiao face Khan. If the only other alternative to a Mayweather fight is Jessie Vargas, then I can see a lot of fans seeing Khan as a much better choice. However, Khan is managed by Al Haymon, which would seem to be a huge barrier for Khan getting a fight against Pacquiao due to Haymon not working with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum.
Khan has been calling nonstop for a fight against Mayweather for the past year, and it seems like the more he’s been ignored by the American star the more that it’s led to Khan talking even more. Instead of staying busy and fighting the best fighters in the welterweight division to further put pressure on Mayweather to fight him, Khan has been matched pretty softly by his management against the likes of Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander.
Sure, those are decent quality fighters, but they’re not at the same level as the guys that Khan needed to be fighting to get more popular like Keith Thurman, Kell Brook, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia. Khan should have avenged his losses to Garcia, Breidis Prescott and Lamont Peterson. He didn’t and it’s kept him from becoming popular enough for him to get a fight against Mayweather.
Khan’s hounding of Mayweather has backfired by turning him away rather than causing him to want to give Khan a fight. It seems pretty obvious that Khan went about getting a fight against Mayweather in a backwards way.
Instead of fighting the best to get the fight with him, Khan fought mediocre opposition and then tried to talk his way into the fight. You can’t talk you’re way into a fight against Mayweather if you’re not fighting the right guys to make it worthwhile for him to take the fight.
