After an impressive win over the highly experienced Zab Judah Saturday night, British boxing superstar Amir Khan now deserves a crack at the unbeaten Floyd Mayweather, Jr. for the biggest and perhaps the richest fight of his boxing career. A day before the Khan vs. Judah fight, Mayweather issued an invitation to US-based British fight fans and those who came all the way from England to watch the Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah fight, to watch him practice inside his Las Vegas Gym as part of his preparation for his September 17 fight with Victor Ortiz. This gesture from the unbeaten boxer signifies his desire to renew his ties with his British fans from way back when he fought the then British boxing icon Ricky Hatton. And as a marketing wiz, he knows that these same fans will empty their pockets to either watch the fight at Wembley or pay for the cost of pay-per-view subscriptions. However, such a possibility still rests on Mayweather’s fight outcome against Victor Ortiz this September. Also, even if Mayweather gets past Ortiz, he won’t be ready to fight in November or December, though he recently said he will now be actively fighting. While waiting for Mayweather to bounce back after his date with Ortiz, Khan has to fight before the end of the year in order to keep his momentum. And who would he fight next? At this time, there are at least three names in the pipeline and they include Timothy Bradley, Erik Morales and Robert Guerrero. A clash with unbeaten Tim Bradley will be financially rewarding for both fighters as they have already made efforts in promoting their failed fight. It may be recalled Khan and Bradley have agreed in principle to fight in a unification match until Bradley backed out due to his expiring contract with his promoter. Bradley is reportedly moving to Top Rank but talks have hit a snag as he got sued by his promoter for non-compliance of contractual obligations. But even if Bradley gets into Top Rank umbrella, it would still be difficult to negotiate a fight with Golden Boy where Khan is a contract fighter, although Top Rank’s Arum and Golden Boy’s de la Hoya have already settled their differences. In fact, they have just signed a co-promotion fight between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Daniel Ponce de Leon on September 10. Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer thinks Bradley who was promised a Pacquiao fight by Top Rank will be in the under card of Pacquiao vs. Marquez fight in November “Bradley has no promoter, he’s involved in a lawsuit and he has no TV date,” Schaefer said. “He overplayed his cards. If he’s not available in December, we’re moving on. No one can ever say Amir Khan did not give Bradley a chance.”
