By James Slater: Though Amir Khan, the reigning WBA 140-pound champion and regular spar-mate with the great Manny Pacquiao, has said a number of times he will never fight his friend, trainer of the pair Freddie Roach seemingly has different ideas. According to Roach quotes that have appeared on ESPN.co.uk, the ace trainer has said his feeling is that the winner of Khan and Timothy Bradley (tentatively set for this July, in what will be a big light-welterweight unification fight) should then move up to welterweight and challenge Pac-Man.
This is quite a stunning though process by Roach, seeing as he trains both Khan and Pacquiao. If Khan gets past the unbeaten Palm Springs warrior known as “Desert Storm” (and Roach thinks Khan definitely wins this fight), will Roach really allow the 24-year-old in with the Pound-for-Pound king? There would be a ton of other questions asked if this did turn out to be the case: the most obvious question being, which corner would Freddie work – Khan;s or Pacquiao’s?
But Roach has said the plan for Khan – fresh off that somewhat controversial win over Paul McCloskey – is to unify the 140-pound class and then look for big money fights at welterweight. And as we all know, Floyd Mayweather aside, there is no bigger fight for anyone at welterweight than one with the Filipino icon.
“I want Amir to unify the light-welterweight division by taking on WBC and WBO champion Timothy Bradley,” Roach said. “Then I want him to move up to 147 and take on the big guys for big money. That’s the plan we are working on. I know Tim Bradley well and he is one hell of a fighter, but I would put Amir in with him tomorrow. Their fight will determine who is the best at 140-pounds and then the winner should go on to 147 and take on Manny Pacquiao. That is my feeling.”
A strange feeling, perhaps? Can you really picture a Pacquiao-Khan showdown taking place? Of course, any such talk will be made to look extremely foolish if the unbeaten Bradley stays that way when he faces Khan (and many good judges pick the superbly-conditioned 27-year-old to beat Khan in the summer). Bradley-Vs. Khan is a genuinely good match-up that we can look forward to, and if Bradley does win it’s highly possible he could then fight Pac-Man. But Khan? I just can’t see it.
In the history of boxing, good friends trained by the same man HAVE fought one another, with the trainer having to decide which of his guys to work with on the night: back in July of 1971, former heavyweight king Muhammad Ali met good friend and fellow former champ Jimmy Ellis in a non-title 12-rounder; trainer of both men Angelo Dundee worked the corner of Ellis. Ali won via 12th-round TKO.
But a Pacquiao-Khan fight, with Freddie having to choose who to guide to victory, would be something else again!