Amir Khan left high and dry again in boxing’s latest merry-go-round

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/apr/13/amir-khan-pacquiao-mayweather-boxing

Version 0 of 1.

The only justice guaranteed in boxing is the rough kind earned with gloves. Ask Amir Khan, who has taken more wrong turns in his career than Mr Magoo.

Khan was one of the hottest properties in the business in 2008 when, in the face of all logic, he took a meaningless fight against the crude but murderous puncher Breidis Prescott and was knocked out in 54 seconds, a setback that would have wrecked many lesser fighters.

He slowly rebuilt his career under the guidance of Freddie Roach, won a world title, defended it five times – and then accepted a no-rematch challenge from Lamont Peterson in the American’s hometown, Washington, not one of boxing’s hotbeds. It was another nightmare experience, the infamous night of the Cat In The Hat, the mysterious Mustafa Ameen who was seen during the bout “assisting” one of the judges, Michael Walsh, with his scorecard.

Khan, correctly, will never believe he deserved to lose his IBF light-welterweight belt to Peterson, who not only got every good call from the referee Joe Cooper, but who, 10 days before the mandated rematch the following May, confessed he had taken performance-enhancing drugs, pellets for low testosterone. The IBF demanded its customary $10,000 to review the circumstances but Khan got no joy out of this useless organisation.

Khan still had his WBA belt but again he came to grief of his own making.

Danny Garcia, an unbeaten Philadelphian with the loudest father in boxing, challenged him and, after soaking up a one-sided beating for two-and-a-half rounds, settled matters with his renowned left hook. Khan and Roach had been training for weeks to avoid that punch, but there it was, right on the end of his whiskers in rounds three and four, and his career was in tatters again.

Khan left Roach (who wants nothing to do with the fighter since Khan claimed the trainer’s Parkinson’s disease was affecting his ability in the corner) and with new trainer Virgil Hunter, he has ground his way back into the spotlight with tough wins over Carlos Molina, Julio Díaz, Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander.

But still Khan cannot take a trick. This month he turned down £5m to fight the IBF champion Kell Brook, preferring to believe he is at the head of the queue to fight either Floyd Mayweather – with whom he shares an adviser in Al Haymon – or his former training partner Manny Pacquiao, after their unification bout on 2 May.

So what must he have thought when he saw his old conquerors, Peterson and Garcia, trading punches on NBC and BoxNation in Brooklyn on Saturday night, amid rumours that, after winning, it would be Garcia, not Khan, whom Mayweather had chosen for his supposed farewell fight in September? Not a lot, probably. As it stands, Khan has no opponent for an announced fight on 30 May – the same night Brook defends his IBF title against Frankie Gavin at the O2 Arena in London.

However, he might take some comfort from the fact that Peterson was as miffed losing to Garcia as Khan was when he lost to Peterson. “I’d love a rematch,” Peterson told NBC in the ring, “but I’m not sure.” Everyone else is sure. It’s not happening. Garcia knows he squeaked by to keep his unbeaten record, and he will not want to do it again.

There were two scores of 115-113 for Garcia, and the third official saw it 114‑114. The winner revealed: “I thought it was close, I’m not going to lie, but I think I had the edge.”

Peterson? He foolishly agreed to fight Garcia at 143lbs, and the IBF, so loyal to him in the past, ruled that decision would cost him his title, win or lose. It was Garcia, incidentally, who demanded the catchweight contest, so his WBA and WBC belts were not on the line anyway. Confusing, pointless - and not very just.

As for Khan, American TV executives, usually keen to accommodate his all-action fights, are not much interested in his first choice of opponent, Chris Algieri, who boxed like a novice when losing widely on points to Pacquiao in Macau last November, hitting the floor six times.

There is an alternative. As it stands, Peterson has no crown and Khan brings nothing to the table but his talent and the WBC’s “silver” title.

But maybe they should fight each other on 30 May. It makes as much sense as anything else either fighter has done recently.

Happy LEE

Andy Lee, meanwhile, is still a world champion, still the happiest Irishman in boxing and a dollar millionaire on track to make history with Billy Joe Saunders in the summer. What a day it would be if Frank Warren could bring these estimable representatives of the travelling community together to contest Lee’s WBO middleweight belt in Ireland, London or Manchester.

Lee, however, should be grateful to Peter Quillin – now known as Kid “Too Much” Chocolate – for coming into the main event in Brooklyn physically drained and seriously demotivated after having to pay $125,000 of the champion’s $500,000 purse because he failed to make the 160lb limit.

It was a draw – rightly so – and Lee, who keeps the WBO middleweight belt Quillin had vacated in September, can resume the informal talks with Saunders that began when Billy Joe beat Chris Eubank Jr last November.

All that would stop it happening would be a lack of money … or the unthinkable: Saunders losing in a ticking-over bout against a selected opponent at Wembley on 9 May, a BoxNation bill on which, weirdly, he will appear on the undercard to Eubank, who meets the 32-year-old Queenslander Lee “Lock and Load” Sherrington (35-7) in defence of his WBA interim title. The Australian should not detain Eubank long.

Scores in Brooklyn were 113-112, 112‑113, 113-113, incidentally. Quillin didn’t look that upset. Neither did Lee. The crowd, restless throughout, were not impressed – although it was difficult to gauge why. That’s the great thing about boxing: nobody is really sure what the hell is going on.