Boxing Betting / Richard Douglas / 24 February 2009 / Leave a comment

Khan is taking a huge risk facing Barrera at this stage in his career, it's a career changing bout says Richard Douglas.

Don King is a man whose contradictions are stacked as high as his hair. But, at the same time, he is capable of the closest thing you'll get to clarity in the murky world of managing boxers.

King has given the world as many great quotes as he has great fights - but one has become a 'universal truth' in the sport: "You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate."

Even King's velvet vocabulary would struggle to argue with a straight face that Amir Khan is one of the world's best half-dozen lightweights - let alone hold one of the top four titles. The Betfair market agrees, making Khan [3.25] to be WBC, WBA, IBF or WBO title-holder in 2009 and [1.22] against.

The Bolton fighter has been feted as Britain's brightest talent ever since he took a silver medal at the Athens Olympics. Fast and flashy, he has the pitter-pat style of Joe Calzaghe except with a much deeper dig.

Early opponents were blown away easily but the step up to even proper domestic class has been a struggle. Willie Limond and Michael Gomez, both former super-featherweights, put him down then the talented but unheralded Breidis Prescott batted him into a crumpled heap after less than one minute.

He rebuilt somewhat with a rudimentary win over Oisin Fagin but Khan is pay-per-view fighter upon whom so much money will rest.

Perhaps that's why his manager Frank Warren has taken arguably the biggest gamble of both men's careers by pitching Khan against ring legend Marco Antonio Barrera on March 14.

The Mexican is a tempting [2.1] to beat Khan ([1.9]). After 72 fights, Barerra is on the way down but he is far from shot. The IBO rankings, considered the most accurate, put him a No 5 in the world and as recently as 2007 he took Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, the No 1 and No 2, the distance.

Khan is No 20 and perhaps lucky to be that high but if he can beat Barrera then the Englishman is right in the title mix.

However, with Warren in his corner, he actually might be there already and opportunity has not been so much knocking as hammering on the door since the start of the year.

On January 1, Nate Campbell was the king of the lightweight division. The Jacksonville fighter held the WBA, IBF and WBO titles so was well out of Khan reach.

However, just over a week later he would vacate the WBA crown because of sanctioning fees. Then in February, he failed to make weight when defending the other belts against Ali Funeka. The fight did go ahead but Campbell has been stripped and only the challenger could leave with the belts if he won. In fact Campbell's hands was raised and the titles were declared vacant.
Warren tried to step in to ensure that Khan v Barrera was a WBO title fight. He failed.

Now Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz will battle it out for that strap and WBA belt this weekend. The IBF and WBC belts do not appear to be an option; Barrera is not ranked by either body and Khan is well down the list as well.

So it would appear that the 23-year-old must beat the Mexican well and then rely on Warren's powers of negotiation to secure a title shot towards the end of the year.

It is a wholly plausible theory with only one problem - Khan might not be good enough.

Perhaps the biggest reason for optimism is Freddie Roach. He is the hottest trainer in the sport right now and recently helped Pacquiao to a surprise success over Oscar de la Hoya. That bout forced Roach to miss Khan's win over Fagin. His first in the corner will be the one against Barrera.

This fight is such a gamble and step up for Khan, the only place to go afterwards would be a mega bout. And it does appear that Warren has taken a front-foot approach to Khan.

He said: "I looked at the tapes of Barrera, watched him and thought, sod it, I am gonna make the match.

"My hope is Amir is too fast for Barrera. If Amir wins this he'll be in a an excellent situation because it is not as though Barrera has gone.

"But it is a risk whatever way you look at it. I talked to Amir about it and of course he is up for it - he always is. But really it is all on my judgement.

He concluded: "If he wins this fight it will be a great career move by me, Amir will be a great fighter and Freddie will be great trainer.

"If he loses, I'll just be a shit matchmaker."