By Lyle Fitzsimmons

It was the most symbolic moment of Saturday night/Sunday morning.

When a beefy, scruffy Oscar De La Hoya entered the ring at the MGM Grand, walked over to Amir Khan after his decisive clinic against a former two-division world champion and whispered his congratulations to the happy Englishman with Pakistani roots, the baton was officially passed.

Whether he liked it or not, the amiable “King” became the latest possessor of what De La Hoya and Co. have long leaned on as Talking Point No. 1 when it comes to promoting big pay-per-view fights.

“The blueprint to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr.”

Oh, you remember “the blueprint,” right?

It’s the conveniently imprecise document Oscar claimed he authored over the course of 12 rounds with Floyd back in 2007 – in a mega-event billed as the one that would “save” a then-flagging sport.

The “Golden Boy” was indeed competitive with Mayweather, especially early on, before fading his usual fade and losing a decision that ended a brief, inglorious reign as WBC super welterweight champion.

From a fan’s perspective, it was a lousy fight.

But it generated a ton of mainstream interest on the way to setting a record for PPV buys that still exists today, which, in corporate terms, probably does qualify it for “savior” status.

And though precious few observers confess to thinking De La Hoya actually won, he did go down in history – and remains there seven years later – as the only opponent to reach the scheduled end of a match with Mayweather and have an official scorecard read in his favor.

Indeed, Saul Alvarez and Marcos Maidana each heard Jimmy Lennon Jr. say “114-114” one time after their meetings with Mayweather in 2013 and 2014, but only Oscar, thanks to the 115-113 tally of Tommy Kaczmarek back then – has had a judge go public afterward saying he was the better man.

Still, while a rematch never materialized, it’s not as if the blueprint was shredded.

In fact, the fighter-turned-promoter has trotted it out on several occasions since, most notably during the prolonged run-up to Alvarez’s turn on the big stage. But while “Canelo” more than proved his worth when it came to attracting an audience on a press tour, the prevailing 9-3 and 8-4 scorecards against him indicated De La Hoya’s choice of contractor – if not the blueprint itself – wasn’t quite right.

Ironically, though, Oscar’s nemesis has been successful long enough to warrant another reinvention.

And this time, more so than before… he’s got a real chance of being right.

While Khan is six years younger and seven pounds lighter than Oscar was upon facing the then-“Pretty Boy” version of Floyd, the modern-day carnival barker in De La Hoya has already seized upon the idea that the 28-year-old welterweight can complete the mission he was unable to accomplish.

“(Khan) has the size and right style to beat him,” he said after the near-whitewashing of Devon Alexander, in which the winner took a Mayweather-like 33 of a possible 36 rounds across three scorecards. “Now I know why Floyd Mayweather doesn’t want to fight Amir Khan.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to fight him. With his performance, he made a huge statement. He shut out a guy who shutout Marcos Maidana, who gave Mayweather a tough fight, and he hasn’t even hit his stride yet. I think Khan is going to get better.”

That’d be fine, but even as he stands now, the prospective match is a certified promoter’s dream.

The Brits have already shown their willingness to head to the Nevada desert to cheer a would-be Mayweather foil (see: Hatton, Ricky; December 2007), and if traveling heads prevail and decide to take the act overseas, it’s not at all hard to fathom 80,000 showing up to jeer “Money” on Khan’s home turf.

As for the in-ring side of things, it’s as close to a level playing field as Mayweather is likely to see with anyone south of middleweight. He’s too defensively sound and offensively precise to be given a serious push by Manny Pacquiao; but those items are less decisive against Khan, who can match him in height, reach and hand speed, and has the sort of all-around offensive game he’s not seen in a while.

Khan’s presumed Achilles heel of punch resistance has not been an issue in two matches with former champions at 147, and likely wouldn’t be a significant concern against Floyd, who’s not known for one-punch erasures and hasn’t had a non-distracted KO of any sort since stopping Hatton seven years ago.

Styles makes fights, so they say, and it’s difficult to fathom Khan being stopped by Mayweather in the sudden manner he fell against Breidis Prescott and Danny Garcia.

But it’s not nearly so hard to imagine him outworking a 38-year-old for the better part of three minutes each round behind a long jab and quick right hand, and forcing the older man into a far more vulnerable strategic position than the likes of Alvarez, Maidana and Robert Guerrero have managed to get him.

Congratulations, Oscar… make the fight and you can finally get that masterpiece framed.

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

FRIDAY
WBC light heavyweight title – Quebec City, Quebec
Adonis Stevenson (champion/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Dmitry Sukhotsky (No. 7 contender/No. 6 IWBR)
Stevenson (24-1, 20 KO): Fourth title defense; Second fight in Quebec City (1-0, 1 KO) 
Sukhotsky (22-2, 16 KO): Second title fight (0-1); Fourth fight outside Russia (1-2, 1 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Though “Superman’s” status at 175 is slightly less than it was 18 months ago, he’s still “the man who beat the man.” And with this as opposition, he’ll probably look superhero-like. Stevenson in 4

Last week's picks: 1-0 (WIN: Lee)
2014 picks record: 87-27 (76.3 percent)
Overall picks record: 632-221 (74.0 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.