By James Slater: Ahead of his upcoming and hugely intriguing unification fight with IBF ruler Zab Judah, WBA 140-pound champ Amir Khan is confident Saturday’s fight will take him to the next level of superstardom. The 24-year-old has made no secret of that fact that he wants his career to culminate with a mega-fight against the sublime Floyd Mayweather Junior, and Khan feels a win over “Money” will make him the best Pound-for-Pound fighter on the planet.
Right now, though, Khan is confident enough to claim he is already THE best p-4-p fighter in Britain.
“Pound for Pound, I’m way ahead of all the other British fighters, and I think people know that,” Khan said to ITN. “HBO think I’m the best British fighter, the most skilful and the most exciting to watch.”
Khan is certainly an amazing talent, but the absolute best of British? For my money, the more worldly-proven Carl Froch takes that title these days, although Khan is in a position to be able to catch up, even overtake “The Cobra.” And if Khan can score an impressive away-from-home win over Judah, it would be worthy of being ranked right alongside Froch’s away wins over Jermain Taylor and Arthur Abraham. But can Khan overcome the skills, the experience, the power of the 33-year-old southpaw from Brooklyn?
For what it’s worth, I can’t make my mind up about this fight. On the one hand I can envisage Khan’s speed and youth taking him to a wide points decision. On the other hand I can picture “Super Judah” landing a wicked left uppercut to his rival’s chin and taking him out.
One man who knows way more than I do – in all-time great Sugar Ray Leonard – says he thinks Khan will “shine” in the fight on Saturday, and that he will “really make a name for himself.”
“There is always a risk when you fight guys of veteran ability, but Amir Khan is fresher, younger, he wants it and I think this is Amir Khan’s chance to shine and really make a name for himself,” Leonard said to the BBC.
Sugar Ray went on to say that Khan should be focusing on those fights that are immediately ahead of him and that he should take one step at a time. With regards to Khan’s talk of facing the likes of Mayweather, Leonard cautioned how Amir would be “going into a whole different arena because of the experience.”
Of course, any talk of a Mayweather fight will go completely out of the window if Khan comes unstuck against Zab. Khan seems to be a slight favourite in the opinion of most fans and experts, but Saturday’s fight has the look of the most dangerous yet for Khan.