By Carlos Boogs
If Amir Khan (31-4, 19KOs) wants revenge, then WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18KOs) is ready to give him that opportunity - although he cautions that Khan is making a big mistake in taking this path.
Last Saturday night, Khan moved up by eight pounds to challenge WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) at a catch-weight of 155-pounds. The HBO Pay-Per-View fight headlined the very first boxing event at the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After boxing very well for the first five rounds, Khan was clipped by a huge right hand in the sixth round and knocked out cold.
The British superstar is now planning to drop back down to the welterweight division, where he's still the mandatory challenger to Garcia.
Khan and Garcia collided in 2012 in a junior welterweight unification. In a similar occurrence to Saturday night, Khan was dominating the fight until he got clipped by Garcia in the third round. The entire fight then changed and Khan was stopped in the fourth.
He would like to return to the ring in December, against Garcia. The two fighters share the same adviser in Al Haymon.
Khan is planning to have a talk with Haymon to put the Garcia fight together for the fall. He also plans to speak with head trainer Virgil Hunter, to get some input on facing Garcia in the coming future.
"I've got the Garcia fight there, I'm still (in) the mandatory position with the WBC, that's a big fight for me. Al Haymon advises me and Garcia. I've not spoke to Al yet [about making that fight] - he wants to talk with me - I also need to speak to Virgil, my trainer," Khan said.
Garcia is surprised with Khan's decision, after a vicious knockout, to target a fight with someone who already knocked him.
"I am pretty sure it could happen but I doubt he will want to fight me after he's been knocked out because I was the last man who knocked him out before Canelo," Garcia told Sky Sports.
"It could happen. It's up to him, if he wants to do it, I am down for whatever. I am the champion so I have to defend my title and he is the number one challenger, so that's what we have to do. A lot of fighters get caught up with all the hype and tell the fans just want the fans want to hear because they don't want to lose the respect of boxing.
"Amir Khan wants to be one of the best fighters but the reality is it's a dumb decision, getting knocked out then fight the person who knocked him out before that."
Garcia feels that he beat Khan when the boxer was at his prime and at his prime weight. He says the outcome of last Saturday's fight was the expected conclusion with Khan having no business fighting a middleweight.
"I fought Amir Khan at 140lbs, one of his prime weight classes, he was climbing at the time so I beat him when he was at his prime and at his best weight," he said.
"But against Canelo that was expected to happen. As far as the knockout goes it might have been a little more devastating because it was a one-punch knockout, but it was expected to happen. Only Amir knows when he wants to finish his career but I think he has to spend some time recovering from that knockout by Canelo. I do give him respect for doing what he did, though."
