SHO Exec on Khan, Thurman, Brook Not Getting Floyd Jr.

By Edward Chaykovsky

Showtime Sports top executive Stephen Espinoza explained the situation why Andre Berto was ultimately selected as the pay-per-view opponent for Saturday's card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where the former two-time champion will challenge the pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr., for the WBC/WBA welterweight world titles.

There were other options that fans liked to see, like IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, WBA 'regular' welterweight champion Keith Thurman, undefeated former 140-pound champion Danny Garcia, and former champion Amir Khan.

"It was a conundrum. There's a perception that there's a lot of makable quality fights for him. And on this timetable there weren't. Keith Thurman has a hand injury. He's still unavailable. Danny Garcia just had a big fight—he's not going to be in the ring for a while. Kell Brook was a possibility, but from a business standpoint, is he more well known here in the U.S. than Berto? Probably not on the mainstream level," Espinoza told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.

"So when you look at sort of his weight class, there's a lot of names that were thrown out that weren't makable for one reason or another. Tim Bradley—there are obviously promotional conflicts."

Khan was the likely candidate that everyone expected to get the shot. He was passed over time and time again since 2013. Khan was observing Ramadan and believe he would be ready in time to face Mayweather on September 12th. Espinoza does not agree with the boxer and says he would have rushed himself to camp and entered the ring against Mayweather without being fully prepared.

"You know, I don't think it was realistic for Khan to say that he could fast for 30 days and then be ready to fight eight weeks later. If you look at traditionally what it's taking to come back after Ramadan, it's much longer than eight weeks," Espinoza said.

"My understanding is that he was looking to come back in November or December. So I think that could have generated its own level of criticism for someone rushing back into the ring not fully prepared."