Amir Khan Announcement Coming Next Week, Danny Garcia Still Only Potential Opponent Named

Amir Khan's next fight will be announced next week, RingTV.com reports via Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer, and WBC junior welterweight titlist Danny Garcia remains the only potential opponent who has been specifically named. Both are promoted by Golden Boy, so it's in theory an easy fight to make, but the Ring article doesn't mention that Ajose Olusegun has been patiently (kind of) waiting for his shot at the WBC belt since early last fall, and that Garcia does have an obligation to fight him.

Schaefer says he hopes to have three belts -- Garcia's WBC and the IBF and WBA belts he hopes are returned to Khan -- on the line for a July 7 or 14 fight, with July 7 looking the more likely date. HBO has had talks about Nonito Donaire fighting Cristian Mijares on that date, but Khan probably pulls rank on Donaire anyway, not to mention the fact that Donaire-Mijares has changed dates about 37 times already, so what's another?

As much as the title belt might mean to him, there's also no arguing that a fight against Khan is a bigger deal for Garcia than a fight against Olusegun, which might not even get interest from HBO or Showtime if it were forced.

So the question is, if the WBC actually stuck to their word for once and threatened to strip Garcia if he fights Khan instead of Olusegun, does the Khan fight happen? Golden Boy surely could ease his pain with promises of future shots, win or lose with Khan, but then it comes down to whether or not Garcia is willing to risk all of that. He's had limited major TV exposure thus far and isn't knocking anyone over with his fighting style, even though he's a solid young fighter who has won all of his bouts to date.

For now, it seems like Khan vs Garcia on July 7 is the idea. That could change. I don't know where else Golden Boy might go if that can't be made, because Khan does need a fight. In case you weren't sure, Breidis Prescott and his team have piped up as expected, since shouting about Khan is about all they have left. I don't really have a problem with that fight happening other than the fact I don't think HBO should be paying to air it. If Khan wants to skip HBO for a fight and do that one on Sky in the UK, then great, I've got no problem. But forcing it into the HBO schedule is only going to inevitably lead to me later in the year bemoaning some goddamned PPV like Hopkins-Dawson that comes about almost entirely because there's no more money left in the budget.