Amir Khan may need a Tom Cruise -like action hero performance to beat Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez.
If you have been reading my columns regularly, and I appreciate you, you know I like everything about Amir Khan. Well, almost. I don’t like that he left Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren but I have discussed that in previous columns.
http://www.examiner.com/x-11372-Dallas-Boxing-Examiner~y2010m1d17-What-the-Amir-Khan–Frank-Warren-split-means
I like the mentality of coming to America from Great Britain and wanting to tackle a big name right away. I like the five-inch height advantage.
But why risk it all with one roll of the dice? Juan Manuel Marquez, Khan’s May 15 challenge, might still have one ass-kicking left in him to dish out.
The September 19 fight with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was a mismatch going in. But Marquez took it like the man and champion he is.
But the previous February 28 fight in hostile Houston, Texas, Juan Diaz guessed wrong. It was recently voted “2009 Fight of the Year.” Diaz, like Marquez, a Golden Boy fighter, was winning on points until Marquez turned it up. And it was over just like that in the eighth.
I go back to the moment in 1997 when American Kevin Kelly nailed Prince Naseem Hamed in the opening round in that great fight that had emotions rolling back and forth until the end.
Khan is no Hamed and the long-in-the-tooth Kelly was no JM Marquez.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but Yo Paulie Malignaggi might be the perfect foil for Khan.
Khan will put up his World Boxing Association 140 title up that he won from Andriy Kotelnik and defended once against the joke of a No. 1 contender Dimitriy Salita in all of 76 seconds.
All of a sudden the fighter Kotelnik previously beat, 25-0 Marcos Maidana of Argentina, is being made out to be a King Kong and word is Khan is avoiding him. Maidana was dropped three times by Victor Ortiz!
As you know I have Ortiz ranked below Malignaggi and Zab Judah in my most hated fighters list. And Golden Boy says after Khan beats Marquez, they want him to fight Judah! That’s thinking big.
The WBA should enforce its rules and make Khan face Maidana, who happens to be the WBA 140 Interim Champion. If the Champion is alive and well and able to fight, why do you need an interim champion at all? These titles need to be unified especially after Khan was handed an easy defense and payday against Salita.
Usually the sanctioning body will give the title to the promoter losing the fighter in this type of situation. Warren should get his top two fighters to fight for the vacant title and Khan should fend for himself. Maybe the WBA likes doing business with Golden Boy and its fighters and TV dates.
I guess losing wouldn’t be the end of the road for Khan, but it would be close, especially if he gets clipped on the jaw again and exposed like he did by Breidis Prescott.
As sage Banner Promotions of Philadelphia chief Artie Pelullo told me once, “You just keep bringing them back.”
