A report surfaced today linking undefeated pound-for-pound kingpin Floyd Mayweather, 36, to former lightweight titleholder Amir Khan, 26, in a bout that can only mean one thing.
Mayweather wants to take it easy in his next fight.
According to Jeff Powell of the Daily Mail, Khan has managed to do the unthinkable: go from a life and death struggle with the likes of Julio Diaz to facing the best boxer on the planet in what will likely be the biggest bout of the spring.
The official announcement will be made in the next few days and Khan has already pulled out of his challenge to world welterweight champion Devon Alexander, scheduled for December 7 in New York, to ensure that his dream fight with Mayweather is not jeopardised.
According to the same report, the bout will take place May 3, 2014 in Las Vegas.
Needless to say, boxing fans are not rejoicing.
The incomparable Mayweather—a fighter gifted enough to make the man many believed was the best junior middleweight in the world, Canelo Alvarez, look downright silly earlier this month—is stepping down in both weight and class to face a fighter not even ranked in the top 10 of the welterweight division by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
It's borderline absurd.
Khan has been knocked out by journeyman Breidis Prescott and knocked down by light-hitting Julio Diaz. Moreover, Khan was blasted out by junior welterweight king Danny Garcia in just four rounds last July.
Since then, while Garcia (who'd happily take a Mayweathter fight by the way) has faced a murderer’s row of opposition, the fast-handed, paper-chinned Khan has faced only second tier opposition and struggled.
For more on this potential fight, let's go to special correspondent William Shatner.
While Mayweather is quickly running out of options at his best and most natural weight class (147), is Khan even close to being the best of the bunch? Sure, he's got blazing fast arms that can connect from long distances. Yeah, he's a fighter with a skill set Mayweather hasn't faced much of recently.
But is Amir Khan in Floyd Mayweather's league? Is he even in the league below him?
Not likely.
And is there a reason Mayweather isn’t considering options at 154? The weight class isn’t exactly bereft of talent.
In fact, notable second tier names such as Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara would present much better puzzles for Mayweather to solve than Khan.
Wouldn’t that angle be easier for Showtime to sell than whatever they try to shove down our throats about Khan?
Still, fight fans will likely pony up the dough should the report turn out to be accurate. For all of Mayweather's annoying little tendencies like taking the path of least resistance, the tremendously popular superstar is one the best and most popular fighters of his era.
He's almost always the prohibitive favorite. Fans watch Mayweather to see how he'll win, and to see the undefeated and unparalleled pugilist do what he's done every time he enters the ring: win.
And that's a good thing, because Amir Khan has absolutely no chance against Floyd Mayweather.
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