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Amir Khan is possibly the most gracious mandatory challenger in recent times. He’s been the WBC’s mandatory challenger to Danny Garcia’s title for quite a while now, and it looks like it’ll remain that way for the foreseeable future.
Khan continues to recover from right hand surgery which required inserting enough metal to make it look bionic, but he is expect to return in either the spring or summer.
But even then Khan says he won’t be taking direct aim at Danny Garcia, enforcing his mandatory obligation. Instead he tells WBN that he’s happy to let Garcia and Keith Thurman consolidate 147lb titles first (which is now the working theory).
“Garcia would have been paid well if he fought me but I’m in a difficult situation because I’m chasing a fight and he’s already got a big fight lined up against Thurman.
"I can’t step in front of that because it’s a massive fight between Garcia and Thurman with two world titles on the line.”
Khan continues by saying that he’ll try to get his shot at the winner of Garcia-Thurman later in 2017, with possibly two world titles hanging in the balance.