Bolton: Amir Khan has challenged Floyd Mayweather to give boxing fans the world over the fight they have eagerly anticipated and announce a date when the two highly-rated fighters can have their much anticipated showdown.
Despite Khan topping a fans’ poll of fighters who they wanted to see challenge undefeated world welterweight champion Mayweather, the 37-year-old American elected to take on Marcos Maidana, who he beat on points at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas earlier this month to unify the WBA and WBC belts.
On the same card, Khan floored Luis Collazo three times to record his first win at the heavier 147-pound weight category, and the Bolton man says his destiny to fight Mayweather cannot be ignored any longer.
“Even if the world says ‘fight Amir Khan next’, if he says no then he’s not going to. If he’s not confident enough, or if he’s not ready, he’ll say ‘I don’t want to fight him’,” Khan said.
“His fans wanted the fight. People were talking about the fight, but Mayweather, being the way he is, he likes things his way and I think he’s earned that. He’s won so many fights, with great performances, he’s earned that position.”
Mayweather is unbeaten in 46 fights and another four wins would see him enter the record books to beat Rocky Marciano’s historic 49-fight unbeaten record. So could it be the fear factor as to why Mayweather keeps stalling on Khan? “I don’t think he’s scared,” says Khan, before quickly questioning his own assumption.
“Well, I don’t know if he’s scared. He’s always said that he’s scared of getting beaten, he’s said that all the time, that’s the only thing he fears. But I think he’s seen something in my style that is going to cause him a lot of problems.
“He might have fought better guys than me, but it’s the style, it’s what we have and other fighters don’t have. The speed, the movement, the explosiveness. I really believe that will cause him big problems and he’s thinking twice about taking that fight.
“He’s probably thinking ‘do I need to fight Amir Khan? With all the problems he’s going to cause me, he’s not going to make me look good, because he’s got the explosiveness, the speed of movement, the power and everything. Do I need to fight him? No. I can take on someone else, people still know I’m the best’. That’s what’s going to happen, I think.”
Khan admitted he felt let down when Mayweather decided to dodge their proposed fight and accepts that perhaps they may never fight after all — especially as his convincing win over Collazo could have added to Mayweather’s concerns.
“People said to me, ‘if you fought Mayweather on the same day as when you fought [Collazo], you’d have beaten him because his performance wasn’t the best’,” the 27-year-old Khan said. “But I really think because my performance was so good that it made his [Mayweather’s] performance just look OK. And that’s why people say that.
“But, if the fight ever happens, it happens. If the fight never happens, then at least the world will know that it’s a fight that I wanted.”
In an intriguing twist to the plot, Khan will meet Mayweather next week, when the American visits Bolton to host one of six sportsman’s dinners on a UK tour — a trip that has got the British fighter confused. However, as hospitable as ever, Khan vowed to meet up with his rival and invite him to his house for a cup of tea.
With Mayweather famous for annoying diehard Manchester City fan Ricky Hatton by wearing a Manchester United shirt ahead of their 2007 fight, Bolton Wanderers fan Khan has warned the champion not to repeat the trick by turning up wearing a shirt of Lancashire rivals Burnley.
“I don’t see the point of him coming to Bolton,” Khan said. “But it’s good for Bolton first of all — Floyd Mayweather one of the best fighters ever to come to our small town. If it wasn’t for boxing, I don’t know if anyone would know where Bolton is. If he didn’t know me, then I don’t think he’d know where Bolton is, but there must be some interest for him. But is he going to do it? I don’t know.
“I might even invite him to the house afterwards — see if he wants a cup of tea. If he turns up in a Burnley shirt, then he has come to annoy me. I might just have the fight with him there and then!
“I can’t see why he’s picked Bolton of all places, it must be because of the fight, he wants the fight, or he doesn’t want the fight. I don’t know what it is. I think you guys have to ask him, I think it’s just to get under my skin, why Bolton from all the places in the UK?”
Khan was speaking to media to announce the launch of the Amir Khan Foundation, which aims to set up orphanages in Pakistan and Sudan, while also continuing his UK charity work
The British-Pakistani has long wanted to stage a fight in Dubai. He was close to making it happen last year and is hopeful he will soon be able to box in the UAE.
“It was disappointing it [a Dubai fight] didn’t come off because I was really hoping to get that big fight there. It was very close, it got so close that we really thought that we had it, but at the last minute it got dropped and it didn’t happen,” said Khan, who was smartly dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans.
“But now the people are talking about the Mayweather fight, now I’ve been more active with this fight, it might be easier to get the fight out in Dubai. I’ll leave it to the team.
“If you look at the big sports in the world, Formula 1, football, they all go to [the UAE], so why not boxing? Boxing is one of the biggest sports in the world, so I’ll probably try again this time.
“If I don’t get the Mayweather fight, then it’s probably worth trying to get a fight in Dubai next. I’ll see how it goes, I’ll speak to my team and now, with Al Haymon advising me, I’ll leave it to him. But I’d love to fight in Dubai, I think it’d be nice, something different.
“I think that’s what made Muhammad Ali such a big star — because he fought in Africa, the Philippines — and that’s what we want to do as well.”
Khan once famously described his wish to retire at the age of 28, however any such talk would depend on one person.
“I want that big fight before I even think of retiring, not for the money or anything, just so that I know myself that I fought the best, and that I beat him or I didn’t beat him. I want to know that.” So it’s over to you, Floyd Mayweather.
— The writer is a freelance journalist based in the UK
