The feature fight on this weekend’s Mayweather-Maidana card is also in the welterweight division as Britain’s Amir Khan takes on veteran Luis Collazo. Right now, Khan is favored at (-360) with the comeback on Collazo at (+220) at Several Bookmakers in a match that may see the winner stepping up to take on Floyd Mayweather Jr in their next outing. Khan almost won the Mayweather sweepstakes before Floyd settled on Marcos Maidana as an opponent. With a win, Khan will keep his name firmly placed on the short list of fighters for Floyd, and that is what he wants and what he is focused on. Which leads to Collazo, an opponent he is favored over, as expected. But does Collazo have a chance? Collazo is a former World Welterweight Champion who has fought a lot of big names and been in big fights. He is battle tested, and in his last win, a TKO win over Victor Ortiz, he flashed his power and called out Mayweather. He is an unorthodox southpaw who has been a hard puzzle to solve for other fighters, and Khan knows it.
There is another factor, and that is that Khan is moving up to welterweight (147 lbs) for the first time. Khan is a rangy and long Light Welter, and Khan predicts the move up in weight class will leave him stronger while not sapping any of his speed and strength. Though that may be the case, it also does not take into account that Collazo is a mature welterweight with some power who has fought at weights above 147 lbs and done well. So the question is, will Collazo be able to find Khan’s chin?
If he does, it could spell the end for Khan’s run towards a Mayweather fight. A fourth career loss at this point would likely doom Khan’s career, and he is moving up in weight class. Is he packing on too much baggage for a fight where he only really has to get hit once?