By Rick Reeno
British superstar Amir Khan (30-3, 19KOs) is still on course to return at the end of May, but indicates to krikya360.com that Chris Algieri (20-1-1, 8KOs) has not been finalized as the opponent.
Khan released a video several days ago where he named Algieri as the likely candidate to face him at the end of the May. That fight is still being discussed, but no deal has been finalized.
He had hoped to land a fight with WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. That possibility fell through when Cotto scheduled June 6th as his return date. Khan is planning to return at the end of May in order to properly prepare for the start of Ramadan, on June 17th. According to Khan, he will need at least two weeks to prepare for Ramadan, and plans to start those preparations immediately following his May return.
Besides Algieri, there is also the option of fighting former three division world champion Adrien Broner. The issue with making that fight is the weight, says Khan.
Broner, who previously held a world title at 147 and moved down last year to 140, is apparently not interested in facing Khan at the full welterweight limit and requested a catch-weight.
Some of the other possibilities, like Marcos Maidana and Keith Thurman, are not looking to return to action that soon.
"Algieri has not been confirmed. He is one of the guys that we're looking at. Because basically I wanted the Miguel Cotto fight, but now he's with Roc Nation and he already has a date on June 6th. I can't fight in June because of Ramadan. I can't fight and then go straight into Ramadan. I need a couple of week to prepare for Ramadan. Ramadan is tough so I need a little break. So that's why I'm fighting in May," Khan told krikya360.com.
"We are also in talks in Broner, who we face-timed through a mutual friend. We said that a fight between us could be made so why not get it made. He said he was up for it, but then what made me realize that maybe he's not is when he said 'I can't do the fight at 147, let's do it at 144 or 145.' I thought that's strange, because he's calling me out and saying 147 - then why not stick to 147. I can't go down to 145 or 144. I'm a 147 fighter. Obviously, it seems to me that he's not interested in that because I can't make 144."
Khan admits there are not a lot of possibilities out there for a fight in late May. And that leaves him in the direction of Algieri and a few others. However, Khan is irritated with some of the verbal jabs that are coming from Eddie Hearn, who promotes Khan's domestic rival Kell Brook.
"Eddie Hearn and Kell Brook's team are being disrespectful, saying that I'm fighting a bum. The guy [Algieri] is a former world champion. He's beaten fighters like Emmanuel Taylor and Ruslan Provodnikov. He just fought Manny Pacquiao and went the full distance with him, with an A-plus fighter. I've never said no to any fighter and the same goes for Kell Brook. He wants to fight in June and I can't fight in June, because of Ramadan," Khan said.