Tonight in New York from the Barclays Center, Amir Khan squares off against light hitting Chris Algieri in a much criticised fight that has brought considerable pressure on Khan from ALL corners – particularly the fans – who have bombarded his twitter feed over recent days and weeks to let him know exactly how they feel about this fight – which is largely seen as meaningless.
Kugan Cassius spoke to former 2 weight champ Paulie Malignaggi for iFLtv ahead of the fight to discuss his own thoughts on the contest.
The New Yorker – who was due to box on the card before sustaining a cut in training – is in the UK for Sky Sports punditry duties ahead of tomorrows Brook v Gavin card from London and essentially agrees with the fans, albeit it a little more respectfully than some of the tweets I’ve seen.
He said;
“It’s a logical next step for Amir if he can’t get the Mayweather fight – to keep busy. I think Algieri is a solid guy – but stylistically it’s not a good fight for Chris.”
“Guys who box don’t typically do well against Amir. You need more than just to be a boxer, you need to have some sort of bang in you so to speak – anybody who boxes – examples like myself, Devon Alexander – guys like that you know? We’re just pure boxers and not any kind of bang in them. Amir tends to do really well against them. You need a bit of physticality to your style to trouble Amir – even if you’re a boxer, you need a bit of physicality.”
“I didn’t have that, Devon doesn’t have that and I don’t think Chris Algieri has that either. I think he’s gonna try to box purely with Amir and I don’t think stylistically it favours Chris very much.”
Amir will be damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t with this one. But after not fighting Kell Brook and then facing Algieri – who he says now he took on out of desperation – the Mayweather fight he so craves in September is looking farther and farther away. In my eyes.
A statement win is expected.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
