Last year we were both treated to and surprised by a couple of big fight match-ups that literally came right out of the blue. Nobody saw Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan coming, and it was even more of a shock when Gennady Golovkin-Kell Brook was announced later in the year.
Could we see some more surprises here in 2017? Manny Pacquiao Vs. Amir Khan, would that provide the big shock factor if it took place this year? As fans know, Pac-Man has just asked his fans, via Twitter, to pick his next opponent from the four choices he provided: Khan, Terence Crawford, Jeff Horn and Kell Brook (who is definitely out now that his fight with Errol Spence Jr. has been confirmed).
Khan picked up the most votes, pulling in 48-percent, way ahead of both Brook and Crawford who pulled in 24-percent and 21-percent respectively (Horn got just 7-percent of the vote). Of course, we’ve seen these kind of fan polls before, where a star fighter has led us to believe that we fans actually have some say-so in who he fights next – Floyd Mayweather put out a similar poll a few years back, also asking who his fans wanted to see him fight next (Khan won this poll too, but Floyd fought Marcos Maidana anyway).
But is there a chance, even a small one, that Pacquiao fights Khan next? Khan has wanted this fight for some time, convinced that his speed and explosiveness would be too much for the man he sparred so many times when he and Manny were both trained by Freddie Roach (Khan insisting he more than held his own in the hard sessions). Pacquiao-Khan in the United Arab Emirates: it would sell and you’d watch it. Don’t be massively surprised if you get the chance.
As to who wins, well, Pacquiao is the older man by a considerable margin at 38, Khan being 30, and styles do make fights. Would Khan’s speed and rapid-fire combinations provide troublesome for Pac-Man, or would the southpaw dynamo’s own speed, power and angles prove far too much for Khan and his suspect chin?
Put it this way, Pacquiao-Khan is a more attractive fight than Pacquiao-Horn; which is something the Pacquiao fans who took the time to vote in the recent poll have made clear.
