NEW YORK ? Amir Khan claims Danny Garcia taught him an invaluable lesson.
The British star says he underestimated Garcia before their July 2012 title fight in Las Vegas. Khan succeeded early in that bout, but Garcia cracked Khan with a left hook that completely changed it.
Garcia upset Khan in a fourth-round technical knockout and remains unbeaten. Khan, who was just 17 when he won a silver medal for England at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, was left to rebuild a once-promising career.
The talented welterweight is 4-0 since Philadelphia?s Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs) stopped him. His last two wins ? unanimous-decision defeats of former champions Devon Alexander and Luis Collazo ? have enabled Khan to legitimately chase what would be a very lucrative fight against undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs).
Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) hopes a victory tonight over Long Island?s Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) at Brooklyn?s Barclays Center leads to a September showdown with Mayweather, who has said he?ll fight once more in the fall before retiring at 38.
With Mayweather a real possibility, Khan knows he cannot approach Algieri the same as Garcia in their 12-round main event (9 p.m.; Spike).
He needs not only to defeat Algieri, who?s coming off a six-knockdown defeat to Manny Pacquiao. Khan needs to dominate Algieri to generate more interest in a pay-per-view fight with Mayweather.
“I?m not looking past this Chris Algieri fight,” Khan, 28, said. “I know it?s a very dangerous fight for me. Stylistically, he?s very dangerous and I?m not going to be looking past it. If I do, I?ll have made a mistake.
“I have to be focused. ? I know there are big fights out there, like Mayweather. I just have to stay focused, win this fight and go from there, really.”
Khan is listed as a 16-1 favorite over the light-punching Algieri, who was considered a club fighter before he upset dangerous Russian brawler Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17 KOs) last June 14 at Barclays Center.
Algieri, who owns a master?s degree in clinical nutrition from New York Institute of Technology, withstood two first-round knockdowns and a grotesquely swollen right eye to defeat Provodnikov for the WBO junior welterweight title.
The biggest win of Algieri?s career enabled him to land a pay-per-view fight against Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) on Nov. 22 in Macau, China. Despite Pacquiao?s dominance that night, Algieri opted to face Khan in his first fight since suffering his lone professional loss, instead of taking a tuneup fight or two.
“I?ve never been that guy to take an easy route or an easy fight,” said Algieri, 31. “I?ve come up very fast in both sports I?ve come up in. Even at a young age when I was kickboxing, I took on big fights. In my young boxing career [seven years], it?s been a constant step up my entire career.”
Khan isn?t a step up from Pacquiao, yet he is a very talented boxer whose offensive skills are among the most diverse in the sport.
“I can?t go into this fight thinking it?s going to be an easy fight,” Khan said, “or I?m going to win this fight. Because I was once in Chris Algieri?s position, where I was getting people telling me, ?You?re not going to make it. You?re not going to win this fight.? I proved everybody wrong.”
