Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight U.K. boxer Amir Khan next year, says Virgil Hunter, the trainer of Khan, according to reports.
Hunter said that Khan will be a better fighter by then ahead of the hypothetical bout.
“I believe Floyd Mayweather will fight Amir Khan next year, and I believe it’s a blessing in disguise because Amir will have another couple of fight and 2-3 more training camps,” Hunter was quoted by BoxingNews24 as saying. “Having that advantage will make it more dangerous for Floyd.”
Hunter said Khan, who has 19 knock outs and a 28-3 record, will have to fight two to three times more before facing Mayweather, who is undefeated and considered the pound-for-pound best boxer.
Khan said that he spoke with Mayweather over the phone and talked about the possibility of facing one another in the future. There were reports earlier this year indicating that the two would fight but Mayweather chose another opponent.
“I spoke to Floyd funnily enough a week after he‘d announced his fight with Maidana,” Khan told Sky Sports. “My friend called me and asked if I wanted to talk to Floyd and I said ’put him on the phone‘ and Floyd said ’how are you doing champ?‘ I said ’I’m alright, but... why didn’t you take the fight? What was the issue?’
“And he said ‘listen champ, you’re a great fighter, I respect you. The fight will happen, you know. I have a few more fights left in my career and it will happen between me and you - just not yet’.”
“Golden Boy got back to me and said ‘you can fight May 3’ on the Floyd card as chief support‘. I thought it was a good idea because I’d be in his face plus Maidana is a guy I have already beaten so I might steel a little of the attention from him.”
Paulie Malignaggi, the American boxer, said that Mayweather’s upcoming opponent, Marcos Maidana, will give him trouble.
“Maidana will give it his all,” Malignaggi was quoted by Sky Sports as saying. “He is a very big puncher with both hands. But at the end of the day, I think Mayweather is a bit too much for Maidana. But I think Maidana can make it interesting at times if he doesn’t domesticate him like he did Canelo Alvarez.”
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