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Danny Garcia's WBC junior welterweight belt won't be the only title on the line this Saturday in Las Vegas, as the WBA has returned their 140-pound belt to Amir Khan, just in time to get some sanctioning fee money from the fighters.
Khan has received the belt after it was stripped from Lamont Peterson. Peterson controversially beat Khan last December, but then failed a VADA drug test in the build-up to what was going to be a May 19 rematch between the two.
"Justice has been done. I'm glad the WBA are reinstating me as champion, it means I walk into this fight as world champion. There is a chance to win the WBC belt as well but not only that, the Ring magazine title will be on the line as well. It means this fight will really show who is the best fighter in the 140lb division."
The Ring title will indeed be on the line, as somehow Danny Garcia is now considered the No. 2 junior welterweight in the world. The magazine's belt is, in my view, no longer of any greater importance or status than any of the sanctioning body titles. I'm not saying that just to be a jerk or anything, I genuinely just don't agree with a lot of the decisions they've made lately. So if you're wondering why we're no longer recognizing the Ring titles here at BLH (not that they care or that it's a big deal), that's why. Someday we might do so again.
Khan (26-2, 18 KO) won't be getting the IBF title that he lost to Peterson back, it doesn't appear, and even if he wins on Saturday it's probably going to be his last fight as a junior welterweight, anyway.