By Michael Collins: Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) will be staging his next fight in the UK on April 27th against possibly former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz (40-7-1, 29 KO’s). Khan’s team reportedly attempted to get catchweight fights against Vyacheslav Senchenko, Jessie Vargas, Juan Manuel Marquez, Humberto Soto and Tim Bradley, but none were interested.
Khan isn’t yet willing to move up to the full weight for the welterweight division, so he’s kind of been wasting time asking welterweights to melt down to fight him.
Diaz, 33, was blown out by Kendall Holt in three rounds two years ago, and other than that, he fought to a 10 round draw against Shawn Porter. Diaz also has losses to Victor Cayo and Rolando Reyes in the past four years. He’s not beaten any quality fighters in many, many years, and that suggests that he’ll be little more than an easy for Khan just as he as for Kendall Holt.
Showtime saying yes to a Khan-Diaz fight could mean that they’re main focus is to make sure the Khan vs. Danny Garcia rematch takes place in 2013 because there’s not a whole lot of reasons for Showtime to bless a Khan vs. Diaz other than that. We’re talking about Khan facing yet another 2nd tier fighter just like his last fight against lightweight Carlos Molina.
For boxing fans, it would be much better to see Khan fight an actual contender, and someone that has been fighting well in the last five or six years. Diaz hasn’t beaten anyone of note for many years, and this is just going to be another mismatch just like Khan’s fight against Molina last December on Showtime.
Before Khan’s win over Molina, Khan had lost his last two fights and his career was on the brink of failure. He was then matched against a soft opponent in Molina, and that got Khan back on the winning track, albeit against a weak opponent. If Khan is matched Diaz, then you can see the direction that his matchmakers are going in.
Ajose Olusegun, one of the best light welterweights in the division is very interested in fighting Khan, but Khan’s promoters at Golden Boy don’t seem interested in that match-up for some reason. Olusegun recently gave Lucas Matthysse a really hard fight before getting stopped in the 10th round last year. Khan vs. Olusegun would likely be just as tough a fight for Khan than it was for Matthysse, but perhaps that’s why Olusegun is being avoided Khan’s promoters.