Floyd Mayweather Jr Says Amir Khan Needs to Beat Jessie Vargas to Earn a Fight

Floyd Mayweather Jr is still entertaining the idea of a fight with Amir Khan in 2012, which seems all but a lock to happen if the two keep winning, but has also said once again that he feels Amir Khan needs to beat Jessie Vargas in order to "earn" a fight with Floyd.

"Once he faces the future of boxing -- which is Jessie Vargas, my fighter -- Amir Khan has a fight with Floyd Mayweather. But he must beat Jesse Vargas first. You must earn, you got to earn. He fought a Zab Judah that I fought six years ago. You know I fought a young, hungry, strong Zab Judah – he fought a Zab Judah that is a lot older. But, we want Amir Khan to fight Jesse Vargas. If Amir Khan gets past Jessie Vargas then Amir Khan has a fight with Floyd Mayweather."

The idea that Khan needs to fight a prospect like Vargas, who has done nothing to earn a fight with Amir Khan at this point, is kind of laughable, but you can't blame Floyd for trying to hype up the one guy on the "Mayweather Promotions" roster who seems to have a real future and give him some publicity.

Vargas (16-0, 9 KO) is indeed a promising young fighter, but what are his best wins at this point? Walter Estrada and Vivian Harris? He's been matched pretty nicely for someone at his level of maturity in the ring, so I'm not bashing his competition, really, but Amir Khan would be an enormous jump for him.

Vargas fights Josesito Lopez on the Mayweather vs Ortiz undercard, and that might not be any walk in the park, either. Lopez can fight, so hopefully Vargas is focused on that and not looking past Lopez.

Bottom line is that Khan is almost surely not going to be fighting Jessie Vargas, who has no "star power."

Then there's Mayweather saying he fought "a young, hungry, strong Zab Judah." In reality, where the rest of us exist, you will recall that Mayweather fought a Zab Judah who was coming off of a loss three months earlier to Carlos Baldomir.