Amir Khan Ideally Suited to Execute the Blueprint to Beat Floyd Mayweather

You might have missed it then amid the Christmas cheer.

And you might have forgotten it since—thanks to an endless stream of hyperbole that's not stopped emanating from Las Vegas, even several days after the emergence of ShoulderGate.

But when a beefy Oscar De La Hoya entered the ring at the MGM Grand on Dec. 13, walked over to Amir Khan after a decisive clinic against a former two-division world champion and whispered congratulations to the happy Englishman grown from Pakistani roots, the baton was officially passed.

Whether he liked it or not, the amiable King Khan became the most suitable possessor yet of what De La Hoya and Co. have long leaned on as talking point No. 1 when it comes to promoting big pay-per-view fights:

The Blueprint to Beat Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Oh, you remember the blueprint, right?

It's the conveniently imprecise document—insisting that Mayweather could be beaten but not precisely specifying how—that Oscar claimed to have authored over 12 rounds with Floyd back in a 2007 mega-event billed as the one that would "save" a then-declining sport.

Sound familiar?

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The Golden Boy was indeed competitive with Mayweather, especially early on, before fading his usual fade and losing a decision that ended a brief, inglorious reign as WBC super welterweight champion.

From a fan's perspective, it was a lousy fight.

But it generated a ton of mainstream interest on the way to setting a record for PPV buys that still existed until last weekend, which, in corporate terms, probably did qualify it for "savior" status.

And though precious few observers confess to thinking De La Hoya actually won, he did go down in history—and remains there post-Manny Pacquiao—as the only opponent to reach the scheduled end of a match with Mayweather and have an official scorecard read in his favor.

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Marcos Maidana each heard Jimmy Lennon Jr. say "114-114" one time after their meetings with Mayweather in 2013 and 2014, respectively, but only Oscar—thanks to the 115-113 tally of Tommy Kaczmarek back then—has had a judge go public afterward saying he was the better man.

Still, while a rematch never materialized, it's not as if the blueprint was shredded.

The fighter-turned-promoter has trotted it out on several occasions since, most notably during a prolonged run-up to Alvarez's turn on the big stage. But while Canelo more than proved his worth when it came to attracting press-tour mob scenes, the prevailing 9-3 and 8-4 scorecards against him indicated De La Hoya's choice of contractor—if not the blueprint itself—wasn't quite right.

Oscar's nemesis, though, has remained on top long enough to warrant another presentation.

And this time, more so than any before…Oscar's got a real chance of being right.

While Khan is six years younger and seven pounds lighter than Oscar was upon facing the then-Pretty Boy version of Floyd, the modern-day carnival barker in De La Hoya has already seized upon the idea that the 28-year-old welterweight can complete the mission he was unable to carry out.

"[Khan] has the size and right style to beat him," he said after a near-whitewashing of Devon Alexander, in which the winner took a Mayweather-like 33 of a possible 36 rounds across three scorecards.

"Now I know why Floyd Mayweather doesn't want to fight Amir Khan," De La Hoya added. "I wouldn't have wanted to fight him. With his performance, he made a huge statement. He shut out a guy who shut out Marcos Maidana, who gave Mayweather a tough fight, and he hasn't even hit his stride yet. I think Khan is going to get better."

That'd be fine, but even as he stands now, the prospective match is a promoter's dream.

The Brits have already shown a willingness to head to the Nevada desert to cheer a would-be Mayweather foil (see: Hatton, Ricky; December 2007), and if traveling heads prevail and decide to take the act overseas, it's not at all hard to fathom 80,000 showing up to jeer Money on Khan's home turf.

As for in the ring, it's as close to a level playing field as Mayweather is likely to see anywhere south of middleweight. He was too defensively sound and offensively precise to be given a push by a healthy Pacquiao, let alone a gimpy one, but those items are less decisive against Khan, who can match him in height, reach and hand speed and has the sort of all-around offense Mayweather has not seen in a while.

Lennox Lewis, the former universally recognized heavyweight champion, suggested Khan may have the tools to complete the job, if not the career's worth of street cred.

"Khan is a fast boxer, he moves great on his feet," he told Sportsweek in the U.K. "The only thing Khan doesn't have is a lot of experience and I feel that may hold him back."

Khan's presumed Achilles heel of punch resistance has not been an issue in two matches with former champions at 147 and likely wouldn't be a significant concern against Floyd, who's not known for one-punch erasures and hasn't had a non-distracted KO of any sort since stopping Hatton over seven years ago.

Styles make fights, so they say, and it's difficult to fathom Khan being stopped by Mayweather in the sudden manner he fell against Breidis Prescott and Danny Garcia.

But it's not nearly so hard to imagine him outworking a 38-year-old for the better part of each round behind a long jab and quick right hand and forcing the older man into a far more vulnerable strategic position than the likes of Alvarez, Maidana and Pac-Man have managed to get him.

Congratulations, Oscar…get the fight made, and you can finally get that masterpiece framed.