Amir Khan’s second light Welterweight world title bout delayed
Amir khan’s plans for defending his light Welterweight world title for a second time, on July 31, seems to be whirling in no mans’ land. Golden Boy Promotions Chief, Richard Schaefer, who acts on behalf for Khan on Thursday that, “We will decide in the next 24 hours but we are in talks with the fighter himself and Sky Sports with a view to waiting until November”.
Khan was adamant on having his next bout in United Kingdom after having defeated Paulie Malignaggi, only four weeks ago at the Madison Square Garden. Time is running out before the proposed bout date which was due to be held either at MEN arena or London’s O2. It now looks like Amir Khan will have to wait long before he steps back into the ring.
Several names had been popping up every now and then as probable opponents, such as Michael Katsidis and Marcos Maidana. Khan, 23, had also insisted on fighting Argentinean contender Marcos Maidana but he has a back problem while Australian Michael Katsidis is reluctant to commit because of Khan’s size, particularly his height.
The Bolton WBA light-welterweight champion has so far failed to secure title defences against Michael Katsidis and John Murray. His failure to arrange a fight against Murray and Katsidis is an indication that they both will most likely fight for an interim WBO title later in the year. But in recent days, it appeared that former super featherweight and lightweight champion Joel Casamayor was the most likely opponent to challenge Khan’s WBA junior welterweight title on July 31 in the United Kingdom.
The main reason for postponing the fight, as claimed by Schaefer was largely because of the potential for conflicts with other popular sporting events, particularly the FIFA World Cup 2010. Khan’s fight could easily be overshadowed, as England is expected to make a deep run into the tournament. Khan is the most popular fighter in Britain; however, the World Cup is the most popular team event in England. Schaefer clearly felt that the final matches and the post-World Cup excitement could serve as a distraction even though the World Cup is scheduled to end on July 11. The second reason mentioned for postponing the fight is that the end of July is peak summer holiday season in the UK.
However, both of these excuses seem to be cooked up. The World Cup ends almost three weeks before Khan’s scheduled fight on July 31. It is difficult to imagine that a 20-day gap would be an insufficient time to promote a bout to boxing fans within the UK. Although, it is true that the end of July is certainly a prime time for Brits to go on vacation, this could not have been enough to force a postponement.
The real reason, in fact, is that Golden Boy pulled Khan out of the July 31 date largely due to the availability of a quality opponent. Casamayor is 38 and it’s likely that his best days as a boxer are behind him. At the least, he is not the type of opponent who is going to contribute any interest in the fight, especially from casual fans. In order to capitalize on the momentum from Khan’s win over Paulie Malignaggi in New York on May 16, his promoters needed another “drawing card” fighter to help sell tickets and PPV buys.
Schaefer even admitted that a “poor pay-per-view” (PPV) could have happened and would have been detrimental to Khan’s career.
Schaefer believes that if the November fight does take place, the winner out of Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz, who fight for the WBO lightweight and WBA super-lightweight title next month, will fight against Khan.
The postponement means that Khan won’t fight until November at the earliest as the Pakistani Brit, being a devout Muslim, had already said that he wanted to observe Ramadan, and then go into training camp, but had said that he wanted to fight before the holy period began in August.
Tags: