By Rick Reeno & Altaf Mubarik

The big chatter circulating around in the industry is HBO’s idea of a junior welterweight tournament that involves WBA champion Amir Khan, WBC champion Devon Alexander, Victor Ortiz and WBA-interim champion Marcos Maidana.

BoxingScene.com spoke with numerous sources who are close to the fighters involved. More than one source confirmed that HBO has discussed the idea with a number of individuals but everyone agrees that any realistic talk of such a tournament taking place is “very premature.”

Nothing has been seriously discussed as far as money, locations, dates, etc. There is nothing concrete with respect to the number of fighters being involved, and none of the four names mentioned have been confirmed to participate. BoxingScene has heard that HBO inquired about a number of other junior welterweights, including unbeaten Lamont Peterson [in the event he beats WBO champion Timothy Bradley on December 12].

The information, first reported by Ben Thompson of fighthype.com, has the tournament being constructed in a similar manner to HBO’s 2001 middleweight tournament that involved Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins, William Joppy and Keith Holmes.