Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Amir Khan are likely going to fight on May 3, and the official announcement could be made next week.
Khan has been reported to be Mayweather’s next opponent since October, but his team denied the rumors at the time. Khan pulled out of a Dec. 7 bout with Devon Alexander (he was replaced by Shawn Porter) which made it pretty obvious he was in line to fight Floyd.
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated interviewed Khan this week about the potential fight with Floyd. Mannix tweeted the following:
Still, I'm told Mayweather-Khan is a done deal. A U.S. fight. Announcement could come as early as next week.
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) December 4, 2013
BoxRec.com has also listed Mayweather’s next fight as May 3 in Las Vegas against Khan. Oddly, BoxRec removed that from his profile page late Wednesday night. They had stated the fight was subject to commission approval:
The Star in the UK also reported that the fight is agreed upon but just minor details need to be worked out.
In his interview with Mannix, Khan said he believes he’ll present a type of challenge to Floyd that Canelo Alvarez and Robert Guerrero didn’t. He plans to try boxing with Floyd rather than knocking him out.
Where have we heard that story before?
Every opponent thinks they can beat Floyd. Guerrero said he was going to pull a Buster Douglas. Canelo said he had a blueprint from Oscar De La Hoya on how to beat Floyd. And now Khan says he can do it too.
I used to think Khan was an excellent talent and someone who could become a threat in the welterweight division. He had incredible speed, quickness, and pretty good knockout power. But then he lost back-to-back fights to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, and it looked like he was just another guy. Now that he has switched trainers, he looks much better. I don’t think he’ll beat Floyd, but his speed will present a challenge. And if he plans to box Floyd, you can guarantee it will be another boring 12-round fight.
