The announcement of the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight last week had the entire boxing world celebrating – with two notable exceptions. Both Amir Khan and Miguel Cotto are now firmly in the market for alternative dancing partners having previously hoped they owned the lucky ticket in the Mayweather lottery.
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But Money versus Manny is on and the only way they will get anywhere near the American on May 2 is if they buy a ticket – although Khan, who chided him for picking an “easy route” and a “boring fight” won’t have to, as Floyd this week offered to front up the cash so the “sourgraping” Brit can sit ringside.
“I am touched that Amir is concerned about the fight and that it might be boring for the fans,” added Mayweather, speaking to Britain’s Daily Mail.
“I can even get him a ticket if he wants so he can see what the biggest fight in the history of boxing looks like and to appease any fears he might have about a boring fight.”
Khan’s obsession with landing Mayweather has been a disconcertingly intense, with him sounding desperate and bitter in equal measure in his frequent media forays. Now he has his sights set on facing the winner later in the year but that still leaves him in need of an opponent for the summer.
The answer is staring him straight in the face. Now, more than ever, a fight with British rival Kell Brook makes complete and utter sense.
Brook, who faces Jo Jo Dan in Sheffield on March 28, is the current holder of the IBF title. And with the other three major welterweight belts on the line in Las Vegas on May 2, the winner of a Khan/Brook showdown could be in pole position to face the winner of the richest fight in history.
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is desperate for the bout to happen, even suggesting June 13 as a potential date, and with his expertise in marketing all-British rivalries it surely would be more lucrative for Khan than fighting another contender in the US.
Assuming the unbeaten Brook (33-0) defends against Dan at the it would also offer Khan the chance to claim a title in a second weight division, which must appeal from a legacy perspective.
A date in early June is also pre-Ramadan, assuaging another concern for the 28-year-old. In the past Khan has revelled in disparaging Brook, often describing him as being a level below. But despite rebuilding impressively with trainer Virgil Hunter after losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, at present Khan probably needs Brook more than he needs him.
Maybe that’s hard for him to admit. Somebody else in need of a reality check is Cotto, who claimed the WBC and lineal middleweight championships by blowing away a ring-worn Sergio Martinez in June last year.
He had hoped Mayweather, who out-pointed him as a light-middleweight in May 2012, might be tempted to step up and challenge for a title in a sixth weight class at 160lbs.
Cotto has spent the bulk of his career as either a light or full welterweight and must be one of the smallest middleweight champions of the modern era. And if the sight of Gennady Golovkin bludgeoning Martin Murray in Monaco 10 days ago hasn’t convinced him his longer term future is best served sharing the ring with smaller men, then nothing will.
The WBC have installed Golovkin as Cotto’s mandatory with the Puerto Rican first allowed an optional defence of his title. Logic suggests he will take that before, assuming he wins, vacating and moving back down.
Cotto is supposedly considering three opponents: Brandon Rios, Tim Bradley and Cornelius Bundrage, with the latter the most likely in May or June.
Bundrage, known as K9, holds a belt at 154lbs and would jump at the chance to face a big name opponent like Cotto. It’s a common sense move as indeed it would be for Khan to resolve his superiority complex and make the Brook fight happen.