By Mark Vester
This coming Saturday at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Amir Khan defends his WBA 140-pound title against mandatory challenger Marcos Maidana. Trainer Freddie Roach will be working his corner. There were worries that once Manny Pacquiao announced his retirement, Roach would retire as well. Plans have changed. According to a report in The Sun, Roach told Khan that he will continue training him beyond Pacquiao's retirement.
"Manny has won all his world titles with Freddie and Freddie had said he would quit when Pac-Man retired," Khan said. "But he's told me wants to carry on because he enjoys working with me so much.
"For him to say that to me shows he must have a lot of confidence in me. It gave me a big lift and Freddie has told me that he believes in me like he believes in Manny. I'm sure he could call it a day whenever he wanted and he has achieved so much in his career and produced so many champions."
Khan's goal is to secure a Las Vegas clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. He wants to gain victory where his countryman and good friend Ricky Hatton failed.
"I'm in boxing to fight the very best out there and that means Floyd right now for me," Khan said. "Ricky went to Vegas and met the best to try and prove that he was the best and I will continue where Ricky failed - it's why we fight. Manny knows that Floyd will never fight him and it could be me that gets in the ring with Floyd - that is a real fight."
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