Terence Crawford is a three-time champ with zero losses and Amir Khan is a former champ with four losses. So it’s understandable why the money is on Crawford (34-0) and not Khan (33-4).
Khan tolerates the critics who predict a win for Crawford since they’re going off of his last fight against Samuel Vargas last September.
“If they’re thinking I’m going to be the same fighter as that fight, they’ll be in for a big shock,” Khan said. Khan knocked Vargas down twice in early rounds but midway, Khan slowed down after Vargas’ body shots pinning Khan against the ropes in round 6 and 10. However, Khan won by unanimous decision.
“For those people, and even Crawford if he’s thinking this way, that are thinking it’s going to be an easy fight for him because they’re taking me from the last fight against Vargas, I think I’m going to shock the world, definitely.”
Timothy Bradley, former world champion and Crawford’s friend, says Khan is fast with his hands but when it comes to defense, he can’t handle power punches.
“Any welterweight in this division, and you can go down the list, and I’m talking about top welterweights, from Errol Spence, [Keith] Thurman, [Shawn] Porter, all these guys; [Danny] Garcia’s already knocked him out already, and now you’ve got Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford in the mix,” said Bradley. “They all knock out Khan.”
Khan won his last two fights but he learned from his losses. He is not blind to the fact that he gets carried away in a match.
“For this fight, I can’t fight like I did in previous fights,” Khan said, “I have to step my game up quite highly. By having them nerves, by feeling that excitement and having that belief, its’ only going to bring the best out of me.”
One thing Khan knows for sure is that even though the fans really wanted a Crawford and Errol Spence match, he will not disappoint as he’s never had a boring fight.
“How many big fights are there out there for him where they’re not going to have really big promotional arguments or some issues? … They needed to get someone where there weren’t any big problems making the fight. When the call was put to me, they knew it would be an exciting fight. No fight I’ve ever gone in has been boring. It’s always been an exciting fight, regardless of what happens in the fight,. I come to fight and I come to win,” Khan said.
If Khan shocks the world, he feels Spence should be his next opponent, not Crawford.
“One thing I want to say is there is a lot of talk about Crawford with Spence, who just came off a fight. All of those people should be talking about Spence against me. I’m not just a number.”
Khan also explains how the Crawford-Spence fight should have happened already but “promotional issues” and “egos” made it difficult.
Crawford seems to be ignoring the Crawford-Spence demands as his main focus is this Saturday in the Big Apple. “After the fight, we can talk about Errol Spence and Al Haymon and Top Rank doing business together. But right now, I am not even thinking or worried about Errol Spence.”
“Amir Khan is a great fighter, fighting a great fighter in myself. I think the fans will enjoy a great night of boxing.”
Both fighters have given the impression they want Spence as their next fight so this weekend’s match up is a must watch. I know Spence will be watching.
Look what to expect this Saturday from these two dominant boxers on the next page.
