By Edward Chaykovsky
British superstar Amir Khan has tabbed Floyd Mayweather Jr., the WBC/WBA champion at welterweight and junior middleweight, as taking the "easy route" by selecting WBO champion as his next opponent on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Khan views himself as having the best possible chance at beating Mayweather in the ring. For two years, Khan has attempted to face Mayweather without success. He also tried to get Pacquiao and met face to face with the Filipino boxer last month in London to discuss a possible collision.
Easier or not, fans have been clamoring for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight for the last six years. The fighters are older, possibly no longer at their very best, but the match is still by far the biggest collision in boxing and expected to break every existing financial record.
"We came very close to securing the fight between both Manny and Mayweather - particularly Manny," Khan told The Sun. "I was in a good position and I could have fought either one of them. My strong performance against Devon Alexander has made some of the opponents think twice about taking me on. Mayweather has probably chosen to fight Pacquiao because it's an easier fight.
"He is taking the easy route but boxing is a business and obviously he is going to do what makes for sense for him financially. The thing is when they were both at their peak - which was six years ago - this fight was talked about then and it should have happened then. That's when it would have been a great fight because they were both explosive. They were both at their peak and the fight would have been massive. They both seemed unbeatable back then.
"Six years later Manny Pacquiao has had two defeats and been knocked out. Mayweather has had some good fights but he is getting old and he's showing signs of ageing now. He is getting caught a lot more frequently. For me, this fight isn't going to be as explosive or as good as it would have been five or six years ago. Who knows, styles make fights.
"They're both very experienced but it could turn out to be a boring fight because there is just so much expectation on it. People are already thinking there are going to be fireworks and it's going to be massive, but just imagine, we've seen it in the past with mega-fights, they often turn out to be quite dull."
