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After all the talk, all the big, important meetings with The Right People in Dubai, and a date that's seemingly been set for an entire season, it looks like the planned December 7 fight between IBF welterweight titlist Devon Alexander and Amir Khan won't be happening, as Khan is reportedly opting instead to stay on the sidelines and sign a fight against Floyd Mayweather for May 3, 2014.
Khan (28-3, 19 KO) is probably making the smart business decision here. He's been mentioned as a future Mayweather opponent many times in the past, but something always comes along to trip him up, and by something, I mean some other, lesser fighter in some other, lesser money matchup. Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia set Khan back a ways with two losses in 2011-12, after which Khan has won two straight over (the other) Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz.
Given Khan's struggles with faded veteran Diaz earlier this year in April, it's an understandable move to look to cash in against Mayweather instead of risking that fight's viability with a date against Alexander (24-0, 13 KO), a guy who could without question beat Amir Khan.
Instead of that fight, the current talk is of a doubleheader from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on December 7, with Alexander headlining against Zab Judah, who would be moving back up to 147 for the fight, and Paulie Malignaggi facing Shawn Porter in the co-feature, a fight that would cast Malignaggi as Rocky Balboa, Porter as Ivan Drago, and Phil Lo Greco as Apollo Creed, none of them really fitting the roles.