By Mark Vester
WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan spoke with hometown paper, the Bolton News, and said his next fight on December 11 is almost sure to come against the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz. That all depends on who wins. Diaz has no desire to move up to 140-pounds and the fight against Khan is not that marketable. Marquez is the big favorite to win next Saturday. Most regard him as the frontrunner to face Khan.
“It is nearly agreed that I will fight the winner and I would like it to be over here next time, but it depends on the opponent and the broadcasters. [Fighting in December] is a long break and my team thought it best for me not to fight but I am a born fighter and for someone like me I don’t want to take time off, especially not at this moment because I am at my prime," Khan said.
“I don’t really want to miss a fight and it is a lesson to be learnt. I don’t think it will ever happen again and, hopefully, we will learn and not stay out of the game so long. I could have got an opponent [for a July fight] but we would have been rushing it with Ramadan coming up. When we looked at the whole picture there was only four or five weeks of training, which was too short notice, so we decided to leave it."
Khan will be in Las Vegas to watch the Marquez-Diaz fight from ringside. During his stay in Vegas, he will meet with Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer to discuss his options for his return in December.
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