Floyd Mayweather announced via Twitter just two weeks ago that he would let his fans decide who his next opponent would be. If he sticks to his word, he'll fight Amir Khan on May 3rd at MGM Grand Garden arena in Las Vegas.
Voting ended on Sunday and Khan won the poll comfortably, Mayweather gave the fans a choice between either Khan or Marcos Maidana for his next fight. Khan tallied 20,105 votes to 15,474 for Maidana.
Mayweather is often considered a genius of self promotion and this was indeed a clever publicity stunt, though it didn't pick the best possible fight for fans. That is because, the best opponents weren't on the ballot.
The great TV and promoter divide in boxing that pits Golden Boy and Showtime against Top Rank and HBO, has prevented a number of better fights from happening.
Khan has however shown considerable self belief that he can give Mayweather a good contest. On Sunday he talked up his record and even compared himself to legends such as Mike Tyson, Arturo Gatti and Ricky Hatton, using a dubious knockout-per-fight ratio.
This doesn't really stand up to scrutiny, Gatti for example, was stopped on cuts several times and fought a massively better level of competition than Khan.
Khans posturing is besides the point, if the only two options on the card are either Khan or Maidana, Amir clearly has the better chance of giving Maywheather a decent fight. Mayweather would decimate Maidana and he would never win a round. Where as Khan is a boxer who has not lived up to his early promise.
The problem with Khan fighting Mayweather is that he's done nothing to deserve his shot. Perhaps Khan would rise to the occasion and make it an entertaining contest. It is a testament to Mayweather's outstanding record and ability that there are so few viable opponenets, he really stands head and shoulders above his class.
Khan is 2-2 in his last four fights, performing badly even in victory. He lost out to Lamont Peterson, got knocked out by Garcia, stopped Molina and then lucked out a win over Julio Diaz when he could easily have lost. Khan has lost two of his last four while not looking particularly good in any of those matches.
Mayweather as one of the greatest fighters of all time, doesn't need to fight anyone to prove himself. Even the fight the fans really want to see, Mayweather-Pacquiao, is unlikely to be the contest that revives the sport or this class.
So if he sticks to his word, the Khan fight will happen and few people will be excited. The British public would undoubtedly like to see one of our own fight the worlds best, but not if its a devastating loss.
Khan doesn't deserve the fight and it sets a bad precedent, that he gets it on the basis of 20,000 votes and not his performances in the ring.
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