Amir Khan's assured win over Collazo may cost him shot at Mayweather

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/may/04/amir-khan-luis-collazo-floyd-mayweather

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Hours after Amir Khan's pleasingly efficient debut at welterweight, a clear points win over the former world champion Luis Collazo to move him closer to a fight with Floyd Mayweather, a Showtime suit confided that the network was indeed pleased with the result. "But we also liked the old Amir," he said, "the one who gambled."

In a city and a business where risk-taking is part of the cultural fabric Khan's instinct for laying it all on the line has been his biggest-selling asset. The people here like blood. So do the fans. They crave knockouts and excitement. Khan invariably delivered that, with his quick fists and his suspect chin. It was as though he fought to the rhythm of the baying mob, his courage taking him to places better left unvisited, as when Danny Garcia recovered from a shellacking to grab his light-welterweight belt with a brutal knockout.

While there was little to criticise and much to applaud about Khan's clinical win on Saturday night, the fight was short on the sort of drama that had crowds edging forward in the past. When Khan might have gone for a stoppage towards the end after knocking Collazo down and building up a big lead, he could not find the single-shot power at the higher weight to put away an opponent almost begging to be hit, hands down and his back on the ropes. That is at least a minor concern because, as Ricky Hatton, who edged a win over Collazo eight years ago, told him beforehand, it is tougher physically one weight up.

None of this should count against the winner in his quest for the most lucrative engagement in the sport, a fight with the reigning king of the division, Mayweather, whose top-of-the-bill victory over the tenacious Marcos Maidana kept his unbeaten record intact.

Mayweather had teased Khan with the prospect of a shot at his title for this show, switching to Maidana after he shocked the cocky Adrien Broner in December. Now, having beaten Maidana in 2010, Khan is entitled to go back to the top of the queue, yet that is no certainty.

He bordered on the cheeky when he observed later: "Mayweather put on a great performance but you look at the way I fought Maidana and the way he fought Maidana. I put him down with a great body shot. Maidana is slower than me and he was still catching Mayweather. Floyd is getting older and people want to see him get beat. It would be a boxing match, skills v skills, and the youth will take him, that's for sure."

However, Khan says he will not compromise his commitment to Ramadan, which finishes on 28 July, and will cut deeply into the preparation time required for a possible fight with Mayweather in September, one of the two months he chooses to perform.

Showtime and Mayweather would gladly give the old Khan a shot, because it would be simultaneously thrilling and less of a threat to the sport's cash cow. Paradoxically the new Khan, fashioned astutely by his trainer Virgil Hunter, would have a better chance of beating Mayweather and consequently his value to them dips.

That is not to say Mayweather would not still start favourite. Khan knows that. But a rematch with Maidana is a more likely fight for Mayweather this year, with Khan looking elsewhere, possibly towards Devon Alexander, with whom he was paired last December before withdrawing on a promise from Mayweather to be his opponent on Saturday night.

Or he could try for a fight with Shawn Porter, who took the Alexander gig and his IBF title and destroyed Paulie Malignaggi in his first defence. Porter has a mandatory challenger in Sheffield's Kell Brook, however, so there are obvious contractual difficulties there.

There is an obvious lucrative alternative: an all-British showdown between Khan and Brook. But that contest is loaded with career-changing possibilities for both, especially with the tantalising prize of a Mayweather fight in the background for next May. It surely would be an all-or-nothing war. And Khan would have to go back to Matchroom to negotiate a deal for that one.

Richard Schaefer, who is still the chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions despite an unresolved row with Oscar De La Hoya, said: "I'm going to talk to Amir and his team and Al Haymon [Mayweather's adviser] and see what we can work out. Tonight I think we saw that his move to 147 was long overdue.

"There are a lot of big fights out there at 147 but I am going to do what I can to match his dream of fighting Floyd Mayweather. Amir Khan has made a very strong case tonight, with his youth and skills. These are all great options for Floyd, whether it is a rematch with Maidana or a fight with Amir Khan. I know Floyd is pretty much set on these dates, May and September, but I am going to have discussions with him."

Khan was bruised but content after seeing off Collazo, and rightly so. It was, as Schaefer observed, "his best performance in two or three fights". He looked cut and strong at the weight, even though he had to do a lot of his work on the back foot, his speed was undiminished and he responded calmly to pressure, refusing the lure of a tear-up in a contest marred by a lot of needle and way too much holding.

"I had to be disciplined tonight," Khan said. "Collazo's a great fighter. This was my first fight in 13 months. I'm still improving and will sit down with my team and look at the tape."

He will be happy to dwell on the fourth, when he decked his opponent with a peach of a short right for a quick count, and the 10th, when he put Collazo down twice, first with a body shot then a left jab-hook that caught the New Yorker's chin at the end of its extension. Yet he could not finish him. That will be a slight concern because it seems he will be taken into the later rounds at this higher weight by stronger opponents with good chins, and that makes for a lot of hard work.

Nevertheless, he won and did so convincingly on the score cards, with two counts of 119-104 and one of 117-106. There were a lot of competitive rounds, but Khan won most of those with his long right lead through Collazo's static southpaw defence. I had him winning 118-106, with two shared rounds.