Khan almost must beat Garcia to save career after Peterson loss
Published:Amir Khan is 1/4 to win the WBC light-welterweight title when taking on Danny Garcia on July 14th and he almost needs to have his arm raised if he wishes to progress to face the likes of Floyd Mayweather in the future.
Khan’s defeat in December to Lamont Peterson may have been shrouded in controversy, but the fact remains that he lost the fight.
Back-to-back defeats would result in Khan’s image plummeting and his bartering position moving forward in the hope of a big payday would be close to nonexistent.
Therefore, this encounter with unbeaten Garcia is about far more than a title.
Khan has already indicated that if was victorious he would probably move up to the 147lb division where bigger-named opposition is more readily available.
But he is by no means guaranteed to beat Garcia, who could arguable present a sterner challenge than Peterson.
Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach has suggested that Garcia is “made to order” and the fact that his fighter is hitting harder than ever in training is a big positive.
Meanwhile, with the title fight being made at relatively short notice after Khan’s rematch with Peterson was cancelled after the latter failed a drugs test, he wants to take advantage of the fortunate opportunity.
Khan said: “I am going to capitalise on it and make the most of it by knocking Danny Garcia out and be known as the best 140-pound fighter.”
It is 6/5 that Khan sticks by his words and triumphs by KO.
However, Peterson threw some punches that made Khan take a step back and he is not particularly known for being a big hitter.
Garcia’s punches should pose more of a problem to Khan, while he may also be more accurate than Peterson if the pair trade blows.
Garcia is 3/1 to beat Khan and extend his own professional record to 24 fights without a single defeat.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
