By Edward Chaykovsky
Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs)is angling to secure a revenge rematch with Danny Garcia (31-0, 18KOs) on a date in December. Khan wants payback for a 2012 knockout loss.
Khan fought Garcia in a WBC/WBA junior welterweight unification bout at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. After winning two and a half round of the fight, Garcia caught him cold with a big hook at the end of the third round and Khan never recovered. Two more knockdowns and the fight was stopped in the fourth.
Garcia made his welterweight debut in August with a TKO victory over former welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi.
Khan sees no reason not to have the fight, as both of them are with manager Al Haymon and both fight on the Premier Boxing Champions platform.
He claims Garcia has been denying him the opportunity to get a rematch since the first time they faced each other three years ago. Back then Khan was not aligned with Haymon.
“I think it would be a good fight for me and for the fans, so we’re trying to make it materialize. I’ve been asking for that fight ever since I lost the first time against Danny and I never really got the chance to make it happen, but now I’m hopeful that I’ll get the chance to settle the score,” Khan told Yahoo Sports.
“Regardless of the result, Khan-Garcia II would be an exciting fight. I want to give boxing fans what they want, and because I have unfinished business with Danny, of course I really want the fight."
In the opinion of Khan, Garcia has not moved forward in his career since winning a twelve round decision over Lucas Matthysse in 2013 on the Floyd Mayweather-Saul Alvarez undercard.
During the last two years, Garcia had a controversial decision win over Mauricio Herrera and some felt he even lost to Lamont Peterson. He also blew out overmatched opponent Rod Salka in a highly criticized fight.
Khan spent his the last two years rebuilding his career with wins over Carlos Molina, Devon Alexander, Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo and Chris Algieri.
"I know Danny won our first fight but to be honest, he hasn’t done much since that great win over Lucas Matthysse in 2013. He hasn’t really moved forward since then, while I’ve learned from my mistakes and improved – so a rematch would be very interesting," Khan said.
“He’s moved up in weight from light-welter to welter now, and maybe that will work out for him. Maybe he was breaking his back trying to make light-welterweight. This means there’ll be no excuses for either of us in a second fight. We’ll both be at a better weight, we’re different fighters than we were in 2012 and it should be an even better fight.”
