If you’re a fan of NFL football, how often have you seen a blown extra point, seemingly meaningless at the time, come back to haunt that team later in the game?
It’s just a point, right?
No worries. Your team is still ahead 23-7 and looking strong.
It’s no big deal… Until the opposing team has narrowed the score to 23-17 and have 1st and goal on the two yard line with a mere 33 seconds remaining in the game.
While it’s not a perfect analogy, there’s one indelible parallel that can be made with boxing, and life in general. A seemingly meaningless flub can sometimes have heavy corresponding ramifications in the future.
So who will Floyd Mayweather, boxing’s biggest star and one of the greatest fighters ever, fight next?
Amir Khan, months ago, promised his fans the Mayweather fight would happen and has even stayed out of action for ten months in an effort to ensure his availability. Perhaps Team Khan made some poor decisions along the way and should be held accountable but one must wonder how Khan is feeling now.
It’s February 19 and not only has Mayweather vs Khan not yet been announced, other options are being rumored.
Has Floyd Mayweather made Amir Khan the laughing stock of boxing?
By dragging Khan through the proverbial ringer, Floyd Mayweather has ritually humiliated him the last several months, whether planned or unintentional.
“What he has done to Amir Khan is absolutely disgraceful, whether he ends up fighting him, or he doesn’t,” Top Rank’s Bob Arum told Telegraph Sport in an exclusive interview from Macau, China.
“My feeling is he is not going to fight him, but it’s disgraceful to do that to another human being because you are in a position to do that. Just because he has the power where you can do something like that.”
Perhaps it’s not Mayweather’s fault entirely. After all, Khan was seemingly a shoe-in to fight Mayweather until boxing fans expressed their vehement displeasure with such a match-up.
So much for Khan being thankful for being given the privilege to share the stage with perhaps the biggest star in all of sports. If Khan is selected, he will not be nearly as gracious as Victor Ortiz and some of Mayweather’s other opponents.
He’ll likely be thinking, “I can’t wait until I get in the ring with this guy.”
Now, Khan has every reason to have genuine disdain for Mayweather and, as a result, may have that extra edge heading into the fight, should it ever happen.
During training he will wake up a little earlier, hit the bag a little harder, run a little farther and focus a little more.
If you’ve ever boxed, you fully understand how deep-seeded emotions can work to a fighter’s advantage.
Example: No matter how poorly Juan Manuel Marquez performs against other opponents, he’ll always ‘bring it’ for Manny Pacquiao, win or lose.
Fighters often have that one opponent who, for personal reasons, elevates them to a higher level. For Joe Louis, it was Max Schmeling. For Thomas Hearns, it was Sugar Ray Leonard. For Larry Holmes, it was Gerry Cooney and for Joe Frazier it was Muhammad Ali.
For Amir Khan, it’ll probably be Floyd Mayweather.
Go figure. A fighter, for whatever reason, steps-up his game whenever he faces a particular opponent… Boxing history is replete with those types of scenarios.
If Mayweather faces the fighter dubbed ‘King Khan,’ regardless of when or where, he may actually find King Kong.
