KHAN STILL HOPES TO FIGHT PACQUIAO, ALSO THINKS OF FACING THURMAN AND SPENCE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 17 Jan 2018
Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) is still dreaming that he can fight eight division and eleven-time world champion Manny Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KOs) as he makes a comeback from almost two years of inactivity. The British former champion is scheduled to clash at Echo Arena in Liverpool on April 21 still with an unknown foe. His last bout was in May 2016 when he was stopped in six rounds by the then WBC middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
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The 31-year-old Khan signed a three fight deal under British boxing promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom. The Bolton boxer's target is to win a world championship again having held the unified junior welterweight world title, wearing the WBA belt from 2009-12 and the IBF strap in 2011.
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The 39-year-old Pacquiao is expected to return on a still unspecified date in April. Both fighters trained together for years, under Freddie Roach as head trainer. Khan left Roach in 2012 and went to Virgil Hunter. "I still think he's got a few fights left in him. A huge name in boxing, being one of the biggest names in the welterweight division still, even though he was beaten by Mayweather, then Jeff Horn. I think he won that fight, but he didn't get it," Khan told Sky Sports.
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"In his last two years, he's had two defeats, but look he's still up there as one of the top fighters in the welterweight division. To fight someone like him and to be in the same ring as someone like him would be amazing. He's a legend in the sport already, but he still wants to keep on fighting. Imagine being put in the ring with him would be something, I would love that," added Khan.
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Khan is also planning to get a welterweight world title attempt at the end of the year, and one of the boxer's on his list is WBC and WBA world champion Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs). He feels very confident in his ability to outbox Thurman over the distance. "Definitely, that's something I really want. Keith Thurman has that one style that he waits a lot. A good boxer can always beat him and outbox him, because he's always looking for them big shots. If you don't let him settle down and throw those big shots then you can always box him and pick him off all the time," Khan told Sky Sports.
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"He's a very good fighter, but you can always work out when he's going to throw a big bomb. You can always see it coming," Khan expounded. Thurman is scheduled to return to the ring sometime in April, with several fighters being selected as possible opponents of the unified champ.
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Another foe Khan is sighting is IBF world champion Errol Spence, who faces Lamont Peterson, who defeated Khan, on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The British boxer thinks Spence has excellent boxing talent. "I remember Errol being in the London 2012 Olympics. He's strong, hits hard with both hands. You saw it when he fought Kell Brook, he was just putting a beating on him," Khan said. "He matured in that fight. Took some good shots from Kell, but just kept mentally strong and knew that his time was going to come. Then broke down Kell and finished him off. Another good fighter."
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As an amateur, Khan won a silver medal in the lightweight division at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He is Great Britain's youngest boxing Olympic medalist at the age of 17. He also became one of the youngest ever British professional world champions, winning the WBA title at the age of 22. In July 2011, the International Business Times ranked Khan as the world's No. 8 best active boxer, pound for pound, while BoxRec ranked him No. 13 best, pound for pound, in April 2016.
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World Boxing Council (WBC) president Mauricio Sulaiman disclosed that his boxing organization is planning to add the photo of Floyd Mayweather Jr. to all future title belts to be awarded to their champions as a recognition by the sanctioning body to the boxer's legacy. Mayweather seemed to make a demand that his photo will be added to world title belts, which Sulaiman is contemplating vigorously.
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"Floyd is a historic, iconic boxer, just like Muhammad Ali who is on the WBC belt... maybe it's not a bad idea to also add Mayweather. There are boxers who represent an era," Sulaiman said. The WBC supported his fight with Conor McGregor and designed a "Money Belt" for the fight last August. The sanctioning body also dubbed Mayweather vs. McGregor match as the WBC "2017 Event of The Year."
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Mayweather captured world titles in five weight divisions and he seized a WBC championship in each of those divisions, the super featherweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight classes. He was also awarded several memorial titles by the organization, like the "Diamond belt." "Now that Mayweather confirmed his retirement, we can consider something like that," Sulaiman said. "If he is retired he has merit, we will see him, he was a champion in five divisions, he has a lot of merit."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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