Amir Khan's pursuit of a long-awaited showdown with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather takes him to Brooklyn, New York on Friday night.
Khan (30-3, 19 KOs), the former unified junior welterweight titlist, headlines a Premier Boxing Champions series card from the Barclays Center against Chris Algieri (9 p.m. ET, Spike TV) hoping that he's one victory away from the fight he has coveted for years.
But the native of England will first have to deal with Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs), a former 140-pound titlist, who is one fight removed from a high-profile defeat to Manny Pacquiao in Macau.
Khan recently joined ESPN.com's Making The Rounds to talk about Algieri and what he believes his chances are in landing a fight with Mayweather.
This will be your debut with the PBC series. What drew you into accepting this challenge against Algieri?
It's going to be good to go back to New York where I haven't fought since [2010] when I fought Paulie Malignaggi. Chris Algieri is a decent opponent. His last fight was against Manny Pacquiao so it's going to be more of a technical fight. Obviously he is going to try to box and catch me off guard. With the new trainer that he's got I think that does help sometimes when you change the trainer because you want to impress and see what you have learned. I'm sure he has learned some new things but I'm going to be ready for whatever he brings to the table. It's all about staying focused and keeping to my game plan.
In your last fight six months ago you pitched a near shutout of Devon Alexander in Las Vegas. What did that fight say about you as a full-fledged welterweight?
I think it was a good fight for me, especially with me moving up to welterweight and fighting one of the top guys in the division. Beating Alexander gives me that confidence and proves that I belong in there with the best of the welterweights.
You made headlines earlier this year by turning down an all-England superfight with unbeaten titlist Kell Brook, even going as far as to say he's not on your level. What needs to happen first before that fight would interest you?
You know, a fight with Kell Brook will always be there in the U.K. So obviously if I want to fight in America and have the big fights and beat the big names against the likes of the Mayweathers and Pacquiaos then I think I have to campaign more here in the states. Obviously Brook wanting to fight me, he's doing that for the payday. He's not really bothered about losing to me, he just wants that big paycheck. So I'm like, why should I let him come for that paycheck when he hasn't really proven himself fighting the top elite guys while I'm proving myself against the likes of the Judahs, Maidanas, Kotelniks, Garcias and the Petersons when he's taking the easy route? He just wants that big paycheck so I'm not going to let him do that.
We know you have spent the last two years chasing a big-money fight of your own against Mayweather. With a win over Algieri, how confident are you about potentially getting that fight in September?
Well I think it can happen definitely and it can happen in September due to Ramadan ending a bit earlier this year. So I think that can give me enough time to get fit and be ready to accept the fight. But like I said I have to look good in this next fight against Algieri first. Algieri has a style that can make most fighters look really bad but I think I have to go in there and make sure I put on a good performance and look really good. Then I can sit down with my team and go from there.
I'm sure you were an interested spectator in the Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown. What's your takeaway from how that fight played out?
It was a good fight. Obviously, being a boxing fan and watching a boxing fight, it was a decent fight to watch. But I think a lot of people expected a lot more excitement in a way where there was two guys going in there toe-to-toe and there's going to be a lot of punches thrown and a lot of punches connected. But it wasn't. There was a lot of holding in the fight and a lot of movement. But look, Mayweather did what he had to do. He had to get that win. Regardless if it was boring or not, he was telling everyone that he could beat Manny Pacquiao and a lot of people thought Pacquiao had the style to beat him. But I just think Pacquiao and Freddie Roach got the game plan wrong in that fight and they just didn't capitalize on what they could have. I think they should have put a little bit more pressure on and thrown a little bit more punches with power. Maybe that would have kept Mayweather on his back foot more but they didn't do that as much.
Considering Algieri's style and speed, what will be the key for you to be victorious?
I think it's all about being smart and being one step ahead of everything. Not falling short because he's quite taller and has a long range himself.