One of the
storylines that emerged in the aftermath of Floyd Mayweather’s victory over
Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd was the announcement that Mayweather intended to
relinquish the world championships he holds in both the Welterweight and Jr. Middleweight
divisions. Perhaps a storyline of more interest however, could be who
Mayweather might face later this year in what could be the final fight of his
career.
A fighter who
has been in the running as a potential Mayweather opponent on more than one
occasion is former unified WBA/IBF Jr. Welterweight world champion Amir Khan.
Khan, who reigned as champion in the 140lb. Jr. Welterweight division from 2009-2012
successfully defended his five times and successfully unified the WBA and IBF
world titles before losing back-to-back fights to Lamont Peterson and Danny
Garcia in 2011 and 2012.
Despite
suffering some setbacks in his career, Khan has remained a force to be reckoned
with and has won four straight fights since his loss to Garcia, including three
wins in the 147lb. Welterweight division. Now after compiling wins over the
likes of Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo, and Devon Alexander Khan may
once again be in the running for a potential fight with Floyd Mayweather.
Before Khan can set his sights on Mayweather however, he must first face a
challenge in the form of former WBO Jr. Welterweight world champion Chris
Algieri on Friday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Algieri
emerged on Boxing’s main stage in June of last year when he scored a come from
behind twelve round split decision over Ruslan Provodnikov to win the WBO world
Jr. Welterweight championship. In that fight, Algieri overcame two knockdowns
in the first round and a badly swollen right eye and was able to outwork
Provodnikov throughout most of the fight to earn a hard fought decision
victory.
Algieri
however, would be stripped of his world title in what some considered a
controversial move by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) prior to Algieri’s move
up in weight to the 147lb. Welterweight division to challenge then WBO Welterweight
world champion Manny Pacquiao for his title in November of last year.
Algieri, who was
also an undefeated two-division world champion in Kickboxing, prior to
beginning his professional Boxing career would suffer his first loss as a
fighter when he lost a lopsided twelve round unanimous decision to Pacquiao in
a fight where Algieri suffered six knockdowns.
Although
Algieri lost that fight, he more than proved his mettle in defeat by continuing
to fight through adversity to go the distance. Now Algieri looks to rebound
from that loss against Khan.
This figures
to be an interesting contest as both fighters are known for their quickness and
hand speed. What will interest this observer in the early rounds of this fight
will be which fighter takes the initiative of being the aggressor and whether
one of the fighters will look to play the role of counter puncher.
Although Khan
would appear to have an edge in terms of punching power having scored nineteen
knockouts in his thirty career wins compared to Algieri’s eight knockouts in
twenty career wins, it would not surprise me to see a tactical chess match
between the two fighters and to see this fight and up close on the scorecards. It
will be interesting to see how Khan would deal with Algieri’s lateral movement
during the course of this fight.
In his fight
with Ruslan Provodnikov, Algieri was able to use his movement to set up his
offense and was able to get his punches off before Provodnikov could get set to
throw his punches. Even though Khan has a different style than Provodnikov and
is also known for his quickness, it will be interesting to see if Algieri can
implement a similar strategy of being an elusive target against Khan. It is a
fight that could go either way.
What may be
at stake for the winner of course could be a fight against Floyd Mayweather
later this year. If a fight against Mayweather is not in store for the winner
however, what could await the winner if Mayweather does follow through on his
announcement and relinquishes his world titles could be a fight for a vacated
world title in the Welterweight division.
Regardless of
what may be in store for the winner of this fight, this observer believes given
the styles of the two fighters this could be an entertaining fight. Whether the
actual fight lives up to the interesting tactical battle it appears to be
leading up to it remains to be seen.
“And That’s
The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing
Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.
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