Amir Khan admits defeat by Chris Algieri would end dream of Floyd Mayweather fight

Khan admits he will be finished as a big-time fighter if he loses to Algieri
He said: ‘A bad performance here would ruin me. The Floyd Mayeather fight would go out the window. The super-fights I dream about would disappear’
Algieri is a converted kick-boxer who has proved he has the heart to be a champion of the square ring
He lost to Manny Pacquiao, but got up six times and won a world light-welterweight title by rising after being flattened by Ruslan Provodnikov

Published:
20:51 GMT, 28 May 2015

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Updated:
23:32 GMT, 28 May 2015

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Amir Khan admits he will be finished as a big-time boxer if he loses to local boy Chris Algieri in Brooklyn.

The last time Khan ceded home advantage to an opponent he was robbed of his world title by drugs cheat Lamont Peterson in Washington.

No such fears this time. Not only does Algieri have a reputation as a health fanatic but he is likely to have fewer fans roaring for him in the Barclays Center than our young man from Bolton.

Amir Khan and Chris Algieri stare at one another ahead of their meeting at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center

Khan enters the fight as favourite, but Algieri has only taseted defeat once in his 21-fight career

Khan is desperate to fight Floyd Mayweather (left), but he insists his distraction

Khan’s retinue of exuberant camp followers were in raucous evidence at the weigh-in and are expected to outnumber the native New Yorkers on the night.

The Center – regular capacity approximately 17,000 – is being tailored down to 7,500 seats for this fight, despite its weighty import for the two combatants.

Khan stresses: ‘A bad performance here would ruin me. The Floyd Mayeather fight would go out the window. The super-fights I dream about would disappear.’

Algieri, who was humiliated by the six knock-downs inflicted on him by Manny Pacquiao in his last fight, says: ‘People are saying I am fighting for my redemption. I don’t see it like that. I believe that was a tremendous learning experience against a great fighter and it’s helping me move forward. But I have to prove it.’

Khan’s risk is the greater. He says: ‘There is a lot of pressure on me. Not least because of the way Manny beat Algieri. I don’t have to prove anything by direct comparison to Manny’s great performance but I do have to put on an exciting show.

‘I’ve taken this fight in America (rather than a London gala night against Kell Brook) to keep up the pressure on Mayweather to fight me in September.’

Khan was greeted by a raucous crowd and his fans have once again travelled in numbers to watch him

As the countdown to their fight goes on, both Khan (left) and Algieri point to the crowd during the weigh-in

Mayweather will hand-pick his opponent from among several contenders — for what he insists will be his mega-millions swansong in Las Vegas — in due course.

Khan aims to keep himself at the head of that queue in the hope that Mr Money will not be able to swerve him yet again ‘even though he must have seen something in me to give him concern about fighting me’.

That something is probably speed, a quickness of hand at least equivalent to that with which Pacquiao blew away Algieri.

The New Yorker’s new coach, John David Jackson, acknowledges Khan will present a similar problem to his man but argues: ‘Chris wasn’t prepared in training to deal with speed and was overwhelmed from the first bell.

‘We’ve settled him down now to use his good, long jab to help him stand his ground. Of course Khan is dangerous but Chris is taller than Amir and he has the longer reach. He’s ready now to use those assets.’

Khan points out that he, too, is improving all the time.

And that is another reason why he spends so much of his time fighting, living and training America.

This, Khan maintains, keeps him as the leader of the Brit pack of his own country’s rising champions like Brook and James DeGale.

Kell Brook enters the ring on Saturday at the O2 with his second world title defence against Frankie Gavin

James DeGale saw off Andre Dirrell on points to claim the vacant IBF super-middleweight belt in Boston

Now deeply into his professional relationship with his latest trainer, Virgil Hunter, in Oakland, California, he says: ‘One of the most important things I’ve learned for being in America is the necessity for staying in training throughout the months between fights.

‘World champions with career longevity keep in shape all year round. For the proof of that you’ve only got to look at men Mayweather and Pacquiao and Bernard Hopkins.

‘Carl Froch learned that lesson early and he and I are setting the example to all the good younger fighters back home.

‘I would bet that 80 percent of British boxers only train when they’ve got a fight coming up and walk around much heavier than their ring weight between fights. You can’t do that any more in this game.’

Khan credits that realisation for his ‘statement’ victory over fellow ex-world welterweight champion Devon Alexander in his last fight and he expects to feel ‘even more improvement here.’

Algieir (left) was humiliated by Manny Pacquiao in his last fight, hitting the deck six times

Khan beat Devon Alexander by a unanimous points decision in a clinical display in his last fight

So much so that he says: ‘When and if Mayweather and I do fight he may find out that it would have been better to fight me a year or two earlier. Because I feel I’m progressing all the time now.’

But first Algieri, a converted kick-boxer who has proved he has the heart to be a champion of the square ring.

Not only did he get up six times against Pacquiao but he won a world light-welterweight title by rising after being flattened by heavy-punching Russian Ruslan Provodnikov and fighting back for a gallant points victory.

That was in this very Barclays Center arena.

Even so, expect Khan to inflict upon Algieri the second defeat of his career. Probably, again, by convincing decision.

*Khan v Algieri will be televised live on BoxNation late this Friday night.