Amir Khan is an enigma. He is a fighter blessed with blistering speed, guts, and fearlessness. On paper, he has many of the tools needed to command a place on the pound-for-pound list, yet, he is nowhere near it. In fact, the brutal truth is that Khan is potentially just one fight away from becoming irrelevant at the top level. His last two significant fights have resulted in crushing losses: the knockout at the hands of Danny Garcia and a narrow decision defeat in a punishing fight against Lamont Peterson. Both fights were winnable, and indeed Khan was the experts' favorite to prevail in both fights, but he disappointed. Now, after being jilted at the alter by Floyd Mayweather after months of publicly courting him, Khan is back to square one. Once again, it seems his poor decision making has landed him in an unenviable position.
If we know anything about boxing, it is that it is the most unforgiving of sports. Pure talent doesn't make the difference nearly as often as it does in most other sports. If you doubt that, ask Vasyl Lomachenko. The 396-1 amateur boxing legend is picking up the pieces after losing in his second pro fight against Orlando Salido (41-12-2). The art of winning fights has as much to do with timing as anything else and Khan has historically shown poor timing. In fact, his push for a Mayweather fight is further evidence that he hasn't learned his lesson so far. To think that he can jump up in weight and face the best fighter of his generation straight away and have any realistic chance of escaping another damaging defeat is hopeful at best. It makes one wonder if Khan is 'cashing out' on himself, trading longer term success for a quick payday (served with a side of embarrassing beating).
Khan has shown over-confidence (bordering on arrogance) in the past. The misguided under-estimation of his opponent led him to fighting Lamont Peterson in his hometown of Washington DC. At the time, Khan was in possession of two belts and all the bargaining chips. You can think of almost no other budding superstar who would accept a difficult fight on those terms. Khan's over-confidence then was punished by a close and somewhat controversial split decision loss. Who is to say that had Khan and his team not overlooked Peterson and taken care to avoid fighting in his hometown, Khan would not be further along in his career?
Recently, reports have surfaced online linking Khan with super-adviser Al Haymon. The rumored link with Haymon is probably the best piece of news that Khan and his fans have had in recent weeks. Amir Khan is in desperate need of guidance if he's going to have a career beyond the next few fights. His career decisions so far have been blighted by an overestimation of his talent leading to spectacular setbacks. He needs to be guided shrewdly if he is going to be successful again.
Without overestimating Al Haymon's capabilities, it would be reasonable to expect that if Khan were to join Team Haymon, then he would get closer to fulfilling his professional and economic potential in a number of ways. He would get the chance to state his case for a big Mayweather pay-per-view fight more convincingly by showing competitiveness against live opponents. He would be well compensated for facing off against those live opponentsÂ…andÂ…if or when the Mayweather fight presents itself, Haymon's role as both boxers' chief adviser will smooth the fight-making process. At the very least, Khan will never again have to resort to virtually publicly begging Mayweather, or any other superstar, to look his way for big fights.
Teaming up with a powerful manager isn't going to solve all of Amir Khan's problems at once, but it would be a good start. We cannot underestimate the mess Khan's jumped knee deep into here. He has been knocked out once each at 135lbs and 140lbs and is moving up into a much deeper division with more fearsome punchers. The next loss, if it comes soon, lands him in the position that Victor Ortiz is in right now. At only 27, Khan doesn't need those kinds of problems.
Now is the time for Khan to make the best decision of his career and get better guidance. Whether that comes from Al Haymon or any other powerful manager is his decision to make, but it needs to be done.