After the boring megabout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao ended with the American winning and the Filipino complaining, the name of Amir Khan (31-3 with 19 knockouts) immediately surfaced as a possible opponent for either.
Meanwhile, Chris Algieri (20-2 with 8 KOs), who was not a full-fledged welterweight when he lost to Pacquiao on November 23, 2014, was supposed to be ?gift? or tune-up opponent for Khan over the weekend, to at least make the British boxer look good in the eyes of boxing fans that he deserves to get into the ring with either Mayweather or Pacquiao.
But after a scoring a wide but unimpressive unanimous decision over Algieri, it looks like Khan doesn?t deserve to get into the ring with either Mayweather (48-0 with 26 KOs) or Pacquiao (57-6-2 with 38 KOs), especially Mayweather.
Algieri, to his credit, survived his fight against Khan without hitting the deck. In the Pacquiao fight, Algieri hit the deck at least five times and he was down two times in the first round prior to scoring a split decision win over Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4 with 17 KOs) on June 14, 2014.
Perhaps the promoters of the Khan-Algieri fight thought the British boxer could also knock down the lanky American several time. Well, that was what I was also expecting on fight night.
Getting into the ring with Pacquiao won?t do Khan any good because the Filipino still has the speed to land his vaunted lefts on the British boxer. I?m not saying Pacquiao will annihilate Khan; rather Khan will find it hard to register even a close win over the Filipino.
On the flipside, Pacquiao won?t look he deserves a rematch with Mayweather if Khan turns out to be an easy opponent very much like Algieri. Anyway, of the last three opponents Pacquiao faced prior to fighting Mayweather, it was obvious none was a top tier welterweight with power in both hands.
And forget about talks Khan could be the fighter who could deal Mayweather his first defeat. That simply won?t happen, and anybody who cared to watch his fight with Algieri will agree wholeheartedly.
Khan will simply be beffudled by the accurate counters of Mayweather who in turn won?t be bothered by the supposed punching power of the British boxer. Although Khan is more than an inch taller than Mayweather, he doesn?t have a reach advantage over the American (72 inches for Mayweather and 71 inches for Khan).
Khan?s chin has also been suspect after his first-round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott on September 6, 2008. Then there?s his fourth-round stoppage loss to Danny Garcia (30-0 with 17 KOs) on July 14, 2012.
So forget about Khan getting into the ring with either Mayweather or Pacquiao. That would be a waste of time and money for boxing fans.
With Khan not impressive in his last outing against Algieri, the best opponent for Mayweather out there are knockout artist Keith Thurman (25-1 with 21 KOs) or the aggressive Garcia.
Argentinian knockout artist Lucas Matthysse (37-3 with 34 KOs), a compatriot of Marcos Maidana (35-5 with 31 KOs) who was twice beaten by Mayweather, could also be a possible opponent for the still undefeated American.
As for Pacquiao, it is best he first take care of his shoulder injury. But I won?t suggest Pacquiao get into the ring with either Thurman or Garcia in the future. That?s suicidal.
