Mayweather vs. McGregor is great for boxing - Khan
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[July 07, 2017]
By Sudipto Ganguly
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Amir Khan spent
years trying to nail down a showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr yet
the Briton is more than happy to see the undefeated multi-division
world champion come out of retirement to face a man who has never
had a single professional bout.
Mayweather hung up his gloves in 2015 with a 49-0 record but the
40-year-old American will return to the ring for a lucrative
12-round boxing match against Irish mixed martial arts champion
Conor McGregor in Las Vegas next month.
Reports of a fight between former world light-welterweight champion
Khan and Mayweather often surfaced in the media but the bout never
materialized as neither camp came close to the negotiating table.
Despite plenty of criticism within boxing, the 30-year-old Khan
feels the crossover fight between Mayweather and McGregor will be
positive for the sport, which he feels has lost ground to the
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) MMA promotion.
"It's a business fight, one," Khan told Reuters. "Two, what's going
to happen now is it's between boxing and MMA.
"At the moment, MMA and UFC is doing so many great numbers on TV, on
pay-per-view. Boxing is doing OK but it took little bit of a dip. We
are not getting the good pay-per-view numbers we used to.
"For now to combine both sports together is going to be great for
the sport of boxing (more) than MMA.
"We hit a wall and we didn't really do anything. Boxing never moved
forward around the world, whereas MMA kept moving forward and got
bigger and bigger and bigger. Boxing kind of stalled in my opinion
and we needed something like this."
Undefeated middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin has
dismissed the bout as a 'circus show' but Khan disagrees with the
Kazakh fighter.
"You have to respect everybody that goes into the ring, you have to
respect everybody who puts the gloves on. You have to fight in front
of millions... not easy," the Briton said in an interview.
Khan, who won a silver medal as a lightweight at the 2004 Athens
Olympics, is also hopeful that Mayweather's return could ultimately
lead to a long-awaited showdown between the two men.
"When he beats McGregor, which I think he will, that fight can still
be there. It really can happen," Khan (31-4) said. "There's still
some big fights out there for me, Mayweather, (Manny) Pacquiao..."
'PACQUIAO DIDN'T LOSE'
Khan was slated to fight eight-division world champion Pacquiao in
the United Arab Emirates earlier this year but that deal fell
through over money problems.
[to top of second column] |
Conor McGregor (blue gloves) celebrates after defeating Eddie
Alvarez (red gloves) in their lightweight title bout during UFC 205
at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY
Sports
The Filipino instead took on little-regarded Australian Jeff Horn in
Brisbane last weekend and suffered a stunning controversial points
loss to the former schoolteacher.
"I don't think Pacquiao lost, he lost on paper," Khan said. "This is
boxing, it's happened to me, it's happened to many fighters. You
can't sulk about it. You just have to go back, have the rematch and
beat him.
"We all know Manny is the better fighter. I just think he should
have gone in there and knocked him out. Because sometimes fighting
somebody in their own backyard is quite difficult to win with the
advantages he has."
Khan also did not rule out securing a bout against Pacquiao in the
future.
"Maybe the Pacquiao fight will happen later, it's all about timing,"
he said. "Maybe Manny Pacquiao didn't feel confident to take the
fight with me this time, maybe he will take it next time."
Khan has not fought since May 2016, when he moved up two divisions
to take on middleweight Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, a sixth-round
knockout loss that he admits was a mistake he would not be repeating
any time soon.
"It's now all about making the right choices for me, making sure I
don't take fights that I don't need... like going up two weight
categories," he said.
"It was a mistake. But if you have to do something which is not
ordinary, you have to go do something crazy. That would have taken
me to a different level. So you have to take big risks. But it can
be damaging for your career."
Khan was in Mumbai to promote the franchise-based Super Boxing
League which runs from July 7 to Aug. 12, will be televised live by
Sony ESPN and is backed by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
(Editing by John O'Brien) [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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