British/Pakistani phenom Amir Khan has apparently set his sights on America and its Golden Boy.
He’s giving up quite a bit for his freedom. He’s leaving his original promoter Frank Warren. He’s vacating his World Boxing Association 140 title. He’s thumbing his nose at his British fan base. These are just for starters.
Let’s analyze this: Frank Warren signed him as an amateur and made him a professional world champion. Warren expertly guided him from utter catastrophe to the title.
By vacating his title rather than challenge a formidable opponent like Marcos Maidana tells me his priorities are out of whack and even his trainer Freddie Roach is wrong here.
Even the very ordinary and professionally on life-support Victor Ortiz (another Golden Boy fighter) at least fought Maidana although he was stopped fought him. And Khan won’t.
I’m just asking if it will get so ridiculous that he would avoid an Ortiz-like level fighter?
Khan’s jaw isn’t going to get better with age (23). So I assume Khan has to avoid all punchers for now on? I believe there are enough titles out there that he can.
Khan ain’t no Prince Naseem Hamed. The Prince came to America after cleaning house in Europe and he had something to sell. Skill and charisma. I remember Hamed vs. Kevin Kelly as one of my favorite all-time promotions and fights.
All Khan has is a first round KO loss to Breidis Prescott and a you tube video of his win over outclassed Dimitriy Salita. Maybe a couple of minutes tops.
Hamed had several Showtime fights in England and Frank Warren expertly had him on camera for Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank fights seen in prime time America.
He’ll end up just another boxer who’s too proud to fight on ESPN but gets caught in a numbers game and undercard situation when Golden Boy’s HBO deal runs out.
Today, especially with the failure of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, the negative attitude of the main stream media and even Internet boxing pundits that have more than we can say grace over quantifying big and in demand fights of fighters from here while Khan may be a couple of years away from pay dirt.
I have been a fan of and still consider myself a fan of Khan and will certainly watch for him. I just think he’s making a decision that can certainly wait until he’s at least polished and confident enough to beat a Maidana who was beaten by Andriy Kotelnik. In fact Kotelnik lost his title to Khan and was virtually shutout over 12.
So what’s the message Khan and Golden Boy are going to sell us?
I don’t see Khan being Muslim affecting his status in America. I think the pool of American fans is too small anyway and already splintered. True serious American fight fans are so used to being treated like second – class citizens that they don’t care if a fighter is unique or controversial – as long as he can fight a little.
My concern for Khan is that if he ever needed to go back to Britain for a tune up or a stay busy fight or even coming off a loss, he might not be treated as a conquering hero but rather as a deserter.
Other successful British fighters such as Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton also left promoter Warren but were ripe for big paydays when they landed in America. Khan is playing the avoidance game and he’ll eventually run out of places to (Herbie) Hyde.
Finally, why Golden Boy? They have never developed an amateur to the top of the pro ranks. They only sign veteran fighters that are former champs or just a fight away from a title shot. I don’t see the match here.
Welcome to America Mr. Khan.
