Amir Khan is confident that he can beat Zab Judah on Saturday evening and the British boxer is already looking towards a fight with Floyd Mayweather.
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Amir Khan will take a huge step towards a potential 2012 blockbuster against Floyd Mayweather if he beats Zab Judah at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas on Saturday night (Khan 1/7 draw 40/1 Judah 9/2 – fight prices).
The Bolton fighter has made no secret of his desire to cement his legacy by taking on the unbeaten American superstar but must first improve on an uninspiring April win against European champion Paul McCloskey of Northern Ireland in Manchester when he goes toe-to-toe with the battle-hardened Judah.
Judah is now the wrong side of 30 and Khan has sent out all the right signals by promising to retire him, but, as David Haye can testify, talk is cheap (9/1 – Zab Judah By Decision or Technical Decision).
Brooklyn-born Judah climbed off the floor against Jan Piet Bergman in 2000 to claim the IBF light-welterweight title Khan will hope to take on Saturday and, as a southpaw, is wily and slippery enough to shatter the British hope’s unification dream (7/4 Khan – Points Win).
Khan, however, believes this is his time and is satisfied with his progress under the stewardship of Wild Card Boxing Club maestro Freddie Roach.
“There is always a young lion coming up and I’m going to take him out and take his throne,” Khan said. “I want world titles and he holds a world title.
“It’s a unification fight and I hope he’s been training hard because once I win I think that’s it for Zab Judah, I think he’ll have to hang his gloves up.”
Khan has come a long way since his shock 2008 defeat by Breidis Prescott – his only professional loss to date – and much of his progress has to be attributed to the ring craft of Roach.
Sparring sessions with stable companion and Filipino icon Manny Pacquaio can only be a positive and Khan says he has taken the plus points from his otherwise unsatisfactory McCloskey win.
“I’ve been using a lot of the tactics that I used against McCloskey in training and we’re going into the fight using a bit of that and elaborating on it a little bit more.”
Khan has experienced the bright lights of Las Vegas before so stage-fright should not be an issue, but he will also be acutely aware of the pitfalls of the Strip.
As actor Joe Pesci remarked, when playing Nicky Santoro in the hit mob film ‘Casino’, “a lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes”.
Khan will be hoping he keeps his head above the sand.
