By Mark Vester
Brendon Smith, the manager of lightweight contender Michael Katsidis (27-3, 22KOs), wonders if WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17KOs) is serious about a fight. Khan told Sky Sports over the weekend that he planned to contact the Katsidis camp to discuss a potential fight in England on April 16. Both Smith and Katsidis are very interested in the fight. But Smith would not be surprised if Khan is just name-dropping Katsidis in order to close a deal with one of the other boxers in the running, like John Murray or Lamont Peterson.
They tried making the fight in the past. Smith echoes the complaints of several other fighters and says the previous proposals from Khan's team have been very low.
"Everyone knows it has been of interest to us and we have negotiated once before to fight Amir Khan last year," Smith told AAP. "There's been a couple of occasions there that the fight just hasn't happened because the offer has been lower. Amir Khan said Michael didn't want to fight him and we got a little bit upset about it, because it wasn't about the fight, it was about the money. I'm happy to talk if they want to try and make the fight..
"Michael has so many fans in England, it will be the greatest fight put together for a long time in England, should it happen. The only reason why it won't happen is Amir Khan, so we'll see whether they call tomorrow or whether it's a ploy to try and get one of these other boys, that haven't got the exposure or the name of Michael, to try and get one of them to sign a deal."
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