He may be dreaming when he says he believes he can beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. after he moves to welterweight next year. Still, you have to love the spunk of a guy who believes so deeply in himself that there are no boundaries he?ll set and no challenges he thinks are too great.
He goes on the road yet again to take on the hometown boy, Lamont Peterson, in a 12-round HBO-televised fight for the WBA/IBF titles Saturday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
It?s no problem for Khan to fight away from home, where he could draw sellout crowds and make a lot of money without the effort and the expense of flying halfway around the world.
Khan, though, is trying to build his brand fight fan by fight fan. With that, he realizes must take the show on the road and put on the best bouts against the most talented competition.
?I?m doing [it] basically the way it should be done,? Khan said, accurately though immodestly. ?The best fighters should face the best fighters in the world and I?m doing that. I wanted to fight [Timothy] Bradley; he turned it down. We took on [Marcos] Maidana; we beat him. We took on Zab Judah, who also was another threat in that division, and we took him out. ?That?s the reason they?ve put me to number one in the world [at 140 pounds], because they call me the best fighter in that division because I?m one fighter who loves taking the risks and fighting the best out there.?
The fight is in Peterson?s hometown, but the charismatic Khan hopes to claim a few of the locals as his own. Peterson has yet to have that defining victory of his own and knows he won?t get many more shots after a loss to Bradley and a draw with Victor Ortiz, so his motivation is high.
Khan, though, relishes the thought of beating the hometown boy in front of his own fans and having them switch sides by the end of the night.
