Based on recent media reports, it is highly likely that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will probably face Marcos Maidana rather than Amir Khan on Cinco de Mayo weekend (May 3rd), which is a bit of a shame if you ask me, because I feel that a contest against the Brit would have raised the global profile of boxing.
From a purely financial perspective, it made sense for Mayweather Jr. to face Amir Khan, with Broner fighting on the undercard trying to gain some measure of revenge over Marcos Maidana.
However, a lot of casual fans of the sport feel (quite justifiably) that Amir Khan didn’t deserve the privilege of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr., because he has lost two of his last four bouts and has never achieved anything at welterweight (other than gaining a controversial decision victory over Julio Diaz).
That being said, I don’t agree that a victory over Khan would not have enhanced Mayweather’s legacy in any way whatsoever. Too many people focus on the American pay-per-view event figures without considering the global impact a fight against Amir Khan would bring to the table.
If Floyd Mayweather Jr. wanted to expand his “brand” recognition to more territories, and consequently increase his fan-base, in order to become a truly worldwide super-star, then a fight against the man from Bolton would inevitably have drawn interest from the Muslim, southern-Asian and also the British communities.
I also feel that Amir is justified when he claims that Floyd has already faced quite a few opponents with Maidana’s ‘stalk-til-they-can’t-walk’ style, so I’m intrigued to see how he would have addressed the unique challenge that would be posed by the unorthodox quick-fisted British fighter.
In terms of what would satisfy me the most as a boxing fan, I would have preferred to see Mayweather face an opponent with a different style for a change, which means I would have chosen Khan as the next opponent rather than Maidana (even though the former is less deserving of this opportunity than the latter). After all, most of Amir’s fights are usually hugely entertaining affairs (in part because of his perceived weak chin).
Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on your point of view), neither Khan nor Maidana are particularly huge draws in the US, which means that a good co-feature bout would need to be added to the fight card in order to ensure a high PPV buy-rate.
Therefore, should we expect to see Adrien Broner supporting his ‘big brother’ by fighting on the same card… perhaps against Amir Khan? It would be interesting to see how the “mini-Mayweather” could fair against Khan.
