By Rick Reeno
HBO is still sorting out their schedule for the next few months. Now that Floyd Mayweather Jr-Shane Mosley is locked in for May 1, the picture should get a lot clearer in the next few weeks. Golden Boy Promotions is looking to stage Amir Khan vs. Juan Manuel Marquez in the month of May. Paul Williams' next fight, possibly against Kermit Cintron at 154, is also tentative for the month of May.
There is still a bit of confusion on the exact scheduling of those fights. Golden Boy would love to have Khan-Marquez land on May 8 instead of May 15. Dan Goossen, promoter of Paul Williams, would love to have the date of May 8 as well. The date is very important because HBO will package the live event on May 8 with the replay of Mayweather-Mosley from the previous week.
The date is more crucial for Golden Boy because they want to have as much hype and as many people as possible watching Khan's American/HBO debut. Khan doesn't have the British following of a Ricky Hatton. He doesn't have the charisma of a Naseem Hamed. He does have skill but sometimes skill is not enough to sell tickets. He needs that extra push to get a following in the United States.
Khan's trainer Freddie Roach told me last week that he honestly believes Khan will put on a better performance against Marquez than Mayweather was able to output last September. That kind of performance needs a lot of eyes watching.
