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Prior to last December's upset loss to Lamont Peterson, then-140-pound titleholder Amir Khan was being groomed by Golden Boy Promotions for a likely 2012 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr, and now that the two are fighting in May in separate bouts, the talk is back on about that fight becoming a reality in the near future.
The Daily Star reports that Golden Boy is again talking about the fight, as Richard Schaefer believes that Khan is just two fights (maybe just one) away from a Mayweather challenge:
"Assuming all goes well and he wins against Peterson, he then moves up to welterweight. But I am not so sure if the first fight will be against Floyd, because at that weight it may not be the smartest thing to do. In a perfect world, I'd like Amir to have one fight at that weight before fighting Mayweather - but if that fight presents itself we would discuss it."
Mayweather (42-0, 26 KO) is moving up to 154 pounds for just the second time to face Miguel Cotto on May 5, while Khan (26-2, 18 KO) rematches Peterson on May 19.
I don't think it's any exaggeration to say that Mayweather-Khan lost some spark when Khan lost to Peterson in December, and even if he convincingly beats Peterson on May 19, it won't be the fight it might have been on paper had Khan beaten Peterson the first time around. Who knows? If he had, we might be talking about Mayweather-Khan on May 5, and Pacquiao vs Cotto II on June 9 instead of Pacquiao vs Bradley.
Still, even if you dismiss the fight as non-competitive, reality probably is that there will be few legitimate options for Floyd otherwise once he's done with his jail stint, however long it actually winds up being. The Ortiz-Berto II winner could be an option, but Khan does bring in a valuable UK audience that those guys don't, and Golden Boy has pretty much run out of opponents for Floyd otherwise. That's why they're going with Cotto next Saturday. The same thing happened with Top Rank last year, when Manny Pacquiao had to face free agents Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez, because Top Rank just had nobody left for him.