The Premier Boxing Champions returns to Spike on Friday night when Amir Khan fights Chris Algieri. Khan is coming off his biggest win in his career, whereas Algieri is coming off his first loss to Manny Pacquiao. Khan wants to face Floyd Mayweather late in 2015, but Khan has had some losses in his career, which sets him back for a big time fight. Will he win this fight and get that big money match in 2015? Here is my preview and prediction for this fight.
Storylines: Amir Khan is known to win a silver medal when he was 17 years old. Since then, he has lost two fights by knockouts to Breidis Prescott in 2008 and lost his WBA and IBF light welterweight titles to Lamont Peterson. However, the WBA returned Khan’s belt because Peterson failed a performance-enhancing drug test. Then in July of 2012, Danny Garcia defeated him. Khan has been on this great fight streak by defeating Luis Collazo and in his last fight, he defeated Devon Alexander. Meanwhile, Chris Algieri is famous for fighting Manny Pacquiao. Even before his fight with Pacquiao, Algieri defeated Emmanuel Taylorand he had a very good boxing match with Ruslan Provodnikov. Algieri showed heart and determination when he was knocked down six times in the fight against Pacquiao.
Strengths: Khan has great speed when it comes to his foot and hands. His speed is his bread and butter because he can use his punches. Khan does not have any power punching in his arsenal, but he can be quick. Meanwhile, Algieri is considered a smart boxer. His jabs are quick and he can control the fight. Algieri has the experience because of his time as a kickboxer. Algieri can be tough when it comes to taking big power shots.
Weaknesses: Khan’s two defeats came from knockouts. The weakness that I see with Khan is that he has a weak chin. Also, if Algieri makes this fight competitive, that will be a weakness to Khan because of the fact that Khan will relay too much on his speed and his defense. When it comes to Algieri, what I saw in his fight with Pacquiao was that speed really frustrated him in that fight. Since he’s going up against Khan, Khan will use his speed to frustrate Algieri. Algieri doesn’t have any knockout power, which will be a plus for Khan.
Prediction: If Algieri had the power punches in his arsenal. This fight can be considered a 50/50 split for the boxing pundits. Based on his experience as a kickboxer, Algieri has a very smart sense as a pro boxer. I believe that Algieri will go the distance and frustrate Khan for a few rounds, but I have Khan winning by a decision. Who should Khan face after this fight? I think that it’s going to be a long shot to get Khan in the same ring with “Money” Mayweather. Mayweather will refuse to fight any boxer that doesn’t have market value. The fight that Khan should pay attention to is Kell Brook and Frankie Gavin. If Khan can win the winner of Brook vs. Gavin, then Mayweather will see this as an opportunity to make money on a mega fight with Khan. I’ll definitely pay attention to what Mayweather will do in the coming weeks and months.
NaijaBet Odds
As at this post Amir Khan has 1.06 odd to win the fight on NaijaBet while Chris Algieri has 10.00 odd to win the fight also.