By Edward Chaykovsky
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya still has a lot of respect for British star Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs).
De La Hoya's company promoted Khan for several years and that relationship ended last December with Khan's victory over Devon Alexander.
For at least two years of that relationship, Khan was attempting to get a shot at WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26KOs).
During that period of time, De La Hoya's company was co-promoting Mayweather's fights and most of his opponents were Golden Boy promoted fighters.
De La Hoya and then Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer tried everything possible to make Mayweather-Khan, but Floyd never expressed much interest in the fight.
Khan was passed over three times in the last two years - with Marcos Maidana (twice) and Andre Berto receiving the opportunities instead.
"We promoted Amir Khan for many years and we had such a wonderful experience with Amir Khan. Amir Khan is one of my favorite fighters because he's willing to face anybody. He's one of those throwback fighters who trains very hard, very dedicated," De La Hoya told TalkSport.
"He'll go up against anybody. He was calling out Canelo Alvarez. He was calling out Miguel Cotto. He was calling out Mayweather, who I believe never wanted to fight Amir Khan. They were promising him Mayweather, but that fight was never going to happen. Amir Khan wants to fight the very best and he deserves to fight the very best."
