Seemingly Delusional Amir Khan Hurting His Own Career by Pushing Baseless Rumors
Amir Khan needs an intervention.
He’s an extremely talented fighter with some of the fastest hands—most likely the fastest—in the sport, but the Bolton hitter seems to suffer from an almost pathological need to pursue fights in the media that everyone else claims are premature at best and imaginary at worst.
The latest incident in what’s become an unfortunate running joke among boxing fans and media took place on Tuesday and came from a familiar—if not always reliable—source on these matters.
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Jeff Powell of MailOnline reported on Tuesday that Khan had signed a contract for a fight with Manny Pacquiao April 9 in Las Vegas.
The story was based on the following comments from Amir’s father Shah Khan: “Our paperwork went off to [Pacquiao's promoter Bob] Arum on Friday and every point is covered. The location is definitely in the U.S. The date in April may vary by a week or so, but April is the month.”
With all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed, the contracts were on their way stateside for Arum to sign and deliver the superfight Khan and his team have long pursued via social media and talking to anyone who will give an audience to his constant and often repetitive—but so far fruitless—claims.
And why not?
It seemed perfectly plausible.
Khan has elite-level skill and has frequently been mentioned, along with undefeated American Terence Crawford and former rival Timothy Bradley, as a possible foe for the Filipino icon since Arum dropped the news of an April swan-song fight for his main charge.
One problem.
Nobody seems to know what Khan’s team is even talking about.
Everyone from Pacquiao’s senior adviser, Michael Koncz, to Arum is calling BS on claims that any contracts have been signed or even sent, with Arum literally using that word, per Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports (h/t Edward Chaykovsky of BoxingScene.com).
“It's total b------t. It's complete b------t. I'm sitting here trying to figure a way to sell tickets to my fight [Saturday in Las Vegas between Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios] and now my phone is ringing off the hook because this lunatic made some s--t up,” Arum said.
That may sound harsh by most standards, but it’s just Bob being Bob and expressing genuine anger over a situation that seems to have gotten well ahead of itself.
It’s not entirely clear to whom his lunatic remark refers, but it would seem you can take your choice in this case.
Arum doubled down in comments to ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael: "I haven't sent a contract to him. We haven't sent anything to him. Don't you think I'm the promoter of the fight and I would know if I sent a contract? It's total b------t. It's not true. This is f-----g ridiculous. There is no deal. There is no contract. There has been no decision whatsoever."
This isn’t the first time that the Daily Mail has been ahead of the game or just plain wrong, and it isn’t the first time that someone in Khan’s camp—which in the past has included the fighter himself—has claimed to have a signed contract for a fight that nobody else would confirm existed.
Powell has been bucked from his horse at least one other time at this rodeo.
He penned an “exclusive” story in October 2013 under the headline, “Khan Hits Jackpot with Dream Vegas Bout Against Mayweather in Vegas.” That story was so exclusive that the fight never happened.
Khan commented just two months later, per Martin Domin of MailOnline: “I am the one who signed the contract, I’ve signed my part of the contract, they’ve not signed theirs. If [Mayweather] wants to fight Amir Khan, then he should sign it.”
Not the first or the last time, either.
Mayweather even effectively trolled him on Fight Hype with a mock interview on the subject.
Gareth A. Davies of the Telegraph reported shortly after Mayweather dispatched Pacquiao that Khan had once again claimed to have been asked to face Floyd, this time by his manager—presumably Leonard Ellerbe—in the MGM Grand Garden Arena after the fight.
One wonders where the hell Khan keeps finding these contracts and conversations that nobody else has ever heard of before. It just looks ridiculous at this point, and he suffers as a fighter and makes himself less marketable as an opponent.
What he doesn’t seem to realize is that by constantly—for lack of a better word—trolling, he just looks foolish.
He looks like a desperate fighter who is more interested in trading on the names of others who have accomplished what he’s only spoken about than using his physical tools and gifts to carve out his own niche in the sport.
Maybe he ends up with the Pacquiao fight and maybe he doesn’t, but if he doesn’t, he need only look in the mirror to divvy up the blame.
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