We are a week removed from Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s official fight announcement. Floyd had been hinting for weeks that he was going to fight Andre Berto in his next, and presumably last, outing on September 12th, but the announcement was still a surprise to many fans that were hoping he was never serious.
One person that was hoping Floyd was not serious about picking Berto was Amir Khan. Even though it has been a week since Floyd announced his choice, I’m sure Khan is still feeling the sting of being passed over yet again.
In his quest to land the coveted Mayweather fight, Khan has accomplished very little during his tenure at welterweight as he passed up other opportunities that risked his chances.
The question now for Khan is where does he go from here? There are plenty of other big fight options at welterweight, and rumors continue to float regarding Khan’s status with Al Haymon, although there has been no concrete news that he has left the highly valued advisor.
Virgil Hunter is Khan’s trainer – he also happens to train Berto – and he isn’t pushing the emergency button at all. In fact, he knows that Khan is talented enough to create a memorable career without ever having Mayweather grace his resume. Still, Hunter can’t help but feel for his fighter because he knows how badly he wanted the fight, and in some ways needed it to make up ground on his time at welterweight.
“First of all, I didn’t know who was going to get the fight,” Hunter said. “You hear things, but I’ve learned in this business, until it’s actually said and done then you move on it. Of course, I know Amir wanted the fight very bad, and he deserved the fight just as much as anybody else. Why it didn’t happen that way? I have no answers.
“But Amir, if he stays on track like he’s supposed to, if he dedicates himself to the sport and keeps himself in a proper frame of mind to be successful he can set his own legacy if he never ends up getting the (Mayweather) fight. But of course, I feel for him.”
Hunter admits that the situation he is in is an awkward one being that he will have to train Berto for Mayweather and then Khan for another fighter.
“If it was the other way around, I’d feel for Berto. I’m in the middle of it, but you care about both fighters. But we move on. It’s not a comfortable position for me to be in, but you have to move. I’m glad I didn’t have to make the decision.”
