WBA/IBF light welterweight champion Amir Khan has never been a fighter reluctant to share his plans for the future or leave things in the hands of his promoters, and as such the Brit has made it common knowledge that he is campaigning towards an eventual shot at Floyd Mayweather.
Khan, hoping that the fight against Floyd happens next year after a final fight at light welterweight in December, apparently doesn’t think that much of Floyd’s upcoming opponent Victor Ortiz however.
Asked by a fan about who he was picking in the September 17th Mayweather vs. Ortiz bout, Khan answered through his twitter account:
“Ortiz is good but Mayweather has his number, another hand picked fight”
Khan as he has often mentioned beat Ortiz as an amateur, and perhaps believes that he and not the WBC welterweight champion who currently deserves the big money fight with Mayweather more.
Despite Khan’s deeper resume however, including a win over the only man to stop Ortiz in Marcos Maidana, it was likely more to do with the fact that Ortiz is a welterweight than anything else that secured him the shot at Mayweather first. Advertisement
Outside of WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who faces Juan Manuel Marquez in November, there are currently very few other names high profile enough for a fighter of Mayweather’s standing to consider taking on.
As much as Ortiz might appear to be a hand picked opponent to some then, in reality there really wasn’t anyone else who made sense at the time that Mayweather put together the fight.
The Pacquiao fight didn’t happen chiefly because it appears that neither side attempted to put it together, both apparently content to let it simmer until next year at the earliest. The last time both sides appear to have officially communicated being the middle of last year.
Of the other high ranking welters, Shane Mosley has already been beaten decisively by Mayweather, as Andre Berto was by Victor Ortiz. Other champions such as Jan Zaveck (IBF) or Viacheslav Senchenko (WBA) are clearly not well known enough to serve as opponents and prospects such as Mike Jones or Kell Brook are still somewhat unproven.
Despite havign a vested interest in the winner, due to Visa issues, Khan said that he won’t be ringside to watch Mayweather vs. Ortiz, saying that he will instead be:
“Instead I’m going the week before for 2 days to the Whitehouse in DC”
He also mentioned that his final fight as a light welterweight will probably fall on December 10th although as yet no opponent has been confirmed. The frontrunner is thought to be the winner of the upcoming WBC title bout between Erik Morales and Lucas Matthysse, potentially giving Khan the chance to unify three of the four titles before moving up in weight to welterweight next year.
Sam Cellers, Pitt: “Khan’s just jealous Ortiz got the fight he wants before he did”
