AMIR KHAN is being lined up to take on former IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander on December 13 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The show, promoted by Golden Boy and likely to be opened by Keith Thurman, will take place on the same night as Top Rank’s Timothy Bradley-Diego Chaves show at the nearby Cosmopolitan.
Khan has been chasing Floyd Mayweather for a long time and will no doubt hope that beating the accomplished Alexander is the final obstacle before he secures his dream fight. The Briton made the trip to Sin City in September to watch Floyd outscore Marcos Maidana in a rematch, and believes he would beat the American should they collide in May.
“I have a good boxing brain,” Amir said. “No one can beat me when it comes to boxing. I admit I’ve been knocked out a couple of times, but when it comes to boxing, no one can beat me. When it comes to a chess match, like it would be with Mayweather, I can’t lose.”
Read Mayweather’s response HERE
The bout with Alexander was originally scheduled for December 2013 but Khan pulled out, believing a fight with Mayweather was close to being signed. In the 2004 Olympian’s absence, Alexander lost his IBF 147lb title to Shawn Porter in an upset in New York. Porter, in turn, surrendered the belt to Kell Brook in August.
Alexander – who has since returned to form by drubbing Jesus Soto-Karass – represents a solid test for Khan as he looks to build on an impressive welterweight debut that accounted for Luis Collazo in May.
Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya insists staging the show on the same night as the Top Rank Bradley-Chaves event (also at welter) was not a slight on old rival Bob Arum, and procedures are in place to ensure any clashes are kept to a minimum. Recently there have been encouraging signs that GBP and Top Rank will work together in the future and De La Hoya told Yahoo Sports that remains the plan.
“We at Golden Boy are partners with everyone and this is what you see here,” De La Hoya said. “It couldn’t be avoided [having the shows on the same night], so there will be different start times. I’ve talked to HBO about it. I’ve talked to [Top Rank president] Todd duBoef about it. I’ve talked to Showtime. We have so many dates and so many fighters, this couldn’t be avoided, but the good thing is, we’re giving the fans a great show and that’s the most important thing.
“I’m sticking by my promise to make the fights the fans want to see, as often as I can. You know it yourself, when we make the fights the people want to see, it’s good for everyone and everyone starts talking boxing. That’s what we need. That’s what I’m going to do.”
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