AMIR KHAN REACTS TO TALK OF DANNY GARCIA VS. KEITH THURMAN; VOWS TO GET HIS MANDATORY SHOT AT 147 TITLE
By
Ben Thompson | October 06, 2016
BT: Amir, prior to moving up and challenging Canelo, you were the number one mandatory contender for the WBC welterweight title for . What's your current status with the WBC?
AK:
I'm the mandatory number one position. Speaking to the WBC, who have been great with me, they said, "Look Amir, even tough you're moving up in weight and fighting Canelo, we will still keep you as number one WBC mandatory." That way, I don't lose my number one position, so I can fight for the title when it's right. I mean, I've not spoke to Al Haymon yet, but last time I did, I just said to Al Haymon, "Look, get me the Danny Garcia fight because there's unfinished business there and I really want that fight." He was like, "Cool. I'll do what I can." Now it's up to Danny Garcia and his team. I mean, I've seen an interview where his father says, "Why fight the top names? Why fight someone hard in their prime, in their peak, when you can fight a Salka?" That just shows what he wants to achieve in the game. He just wants to keep that unbeaten record. Look, I respect him. He's a good fighter; he's beaten me. But I know I'm a better fighter and I know that was a fight that I should've won. It seems to me that Danny Garcia maybe in his mind thinks, "Okay, fine, you know what; Amir is a good fighter and I got lucky with that one big shot." If he had never landed that one big shot, the fight would've gone only one way and everyone knows that. End of day, I'm just going to let this hand heal up. I want a tune-up fight just to see how it feels because I've been out of the ring; and obviously getting beat in the last fight, I just want to get back on the winning streak again and then, boom, we go for the big one that we want, man. That's where I belong. I belong in the biggest fights. That's the type of character I am.
BT: There's rumors that Danny could be unifying his title with WBA champ Keith Thurman in February.
AK:
I don't think he'll take it. I don't think he's doing that.
BT: I mean, from what I'm hearing, that's the plan that they're currently working on and both sides are pretty much down to do it.
AK:
We all have plans. Until you've signed, nothing is guaranteed in life. I mean, it's a good fight. End of day, look, me and Danny have never had beef. Me and Danny Garcia have never had beef. He's always been respectful. He's always seen me, shook my hand; he's always said good words about me, but it's business. A fight between me and him is a big fight. It would be a massive fight. It'll cause a lot of noise and boxing fans love the fight as well, so it would be amazing to have that rematch again. But obviously, like I said, he's got his route, I've got my route; we'll just see where it takes us. The fight's going to happen one day again.
BT: With you pretty much taking a tune-up fight next anyway, I assume you really don't care who he fights next as long as you get to keep your mandatory position and get a shot at the winner.
AK:
Yeah, exactly! Look, Mauricio [Sulaiman], I speak to him quite a lot and he's been nothing but amazing and he's been very supportive. The WBC has been very supportive and very good with me. First of all, bro, I mean, Danny Garcia shouldn't have even fought for that title because I was the number one. First of all, that title should have never been given to him. That's where I was a little bit upset and said, yo, I've been the motherfukking mandatory for Mayweather and everyone for the last 3 years [Khan has been ranked #1 at 147 by the WBC since May of 2014] and never fukking got a title fight. I was mandatory, mandatory, mandatory; paying my sanctioning fees and everything and never go the fights I wanted, so it seems to me that, you know, people realize that maybe Mauricio just thought let me now show love to Amir because of the days he's still been loyal to the belt, still fought for the WBC silver, you know what I'm saying. Look, I mean, end of day, I can't see that fight happening. Bro, I'm telling you, that fight ain't gonna happen.
BT: (Laughing) Well, you never know until those contracts are signed. Actually, Danny was supposedly in talks to fight your boy Berto next, but Berto put him on blast saying he found out Danny turned the fight down in favor of facing John Molina Jr. instead. A lot of people think that maybe Garcia vs. Berto couldn't get made because of the purse demands by both fighters. Do you think money might be an issue when it comes to you possibly getting that rematch with Garcia?
AK:
They can say what they want, brother, but they're not on the AK money, bro. If they're not on the AK money, then that's a different story, bro, you know what I'm saying. Danny knows, bro, the reason he made big money was because he fought AK; the reason he made the biggest payday, I gave him first. His biggest first payday was from me. I'm the one who when we negotiated, I know exactly what he got. Look, we're on a different level as well. It is a business. You have to look at it as a business, but at the same time...I treat it as a business, obviously I have a great team in Al Haymon and everyone, but at the same time, I fight the best as well. I'm not afraid of fighting anyone. Now, if I go up two weight categories and I was beating a guy who was supposed to have just walked right through me, well obviously this is boxing and you can get hit with one big shot and it's over, you know, then it's just one of them things, but I mean, this is what most fighters should be doing, what I'm doing, is fighting the best. Maybe that's why my name is still there, bro, because I've lost fights and I've come back and I've still been paid well. My name is still up there and I'm still like a superstar everywhere I go. That's because I have heart and I have balls to step in the ring with anyone.
BT: If Danny and Keith do fight and say Keith beats him, what's more important fight for you, getting the title or avenging that loss to Danny?
AK:
Bro, they're both big fights. They are both big fights for me and I can have them both. Why can't I have them? Look, the rematch with Danny Garcia is always going to be there, yeah. Then say Keith Thurman beats Garcia and wins the WBC title; I'm the mandatory for it anyway, so I'll get that fight. When I win that title, then it'll be maybe that rematch with Danny Garcia and then I'll give him the opportunity to fight for the title and I'll beat him. That's the good thing about boxing and Al's stable. All the top fighters are with Al, especially the welterweights. All the top welterweights, including Garcia and Thurman, if they do agree to take the fight on with each other, I mean, I think it's good because this is what boxing needs.
We need to keep the sport alive because you got MMA, where the best are fighting the best. We don't want MMA to take over boxing. That's what's happening, bro, because the best are not fighting the best. Maybe now, it's putting the promoters, it's putting the managers, it's putting the coaches and the fighters, it's putting their backs against the wall because these guys need to fight the best now and there's no hiding away from it now. Not only that, but these fans aren't fools, man. There's a lot of people that have been fooling the fans for a long time fighting people that they should never been seen in there with and don't know how they got the fight. You should never fool the fans, man.
Going back to Keith Thurman, I think his last fight was against Porter. That was a very close fight. Collazo gave him a good fight.
I think where Garcia now is saying a few flaws him because he's probably thinking, wait a minute, at this level, he can beat him. I think Garcia probably can. If he gets the game plan right, I think he can win this fight. Keith is a very explosive fighter, he's very strong, but Garcia knows that and is strong also. He's probably seen flaws, especially you start seeing Keith, when he gets caught, he can be hurt. He got a very close win against Porter, so these are ways now; maybe things are showing now, the ways of beating Keith Thurman, and Danny Garcia has seen that and said, "Yo, you know what? I know how to beat this guy." So I think he's made a good choice if he's taking this fight, but I still think it's not going to happen.
AMIR KHAN REACTS TO TALK OF DANNY GARCIA VS. KEITH THURMAN; VOWS TO GET HIS MANDATORY SHOT AT 147 TITLE || FIGHTHYPE.COM
