7:40am Wednesday 21st July 2010
AMIR Khan will fly out to America this week to be at ringside for the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marques showdown on July 31.
The Bolton boxer expects to fight the winner when he returns to the ring in December after a prolonged seven-month absence.
The WBA world light-welterweight champion has been left kicking his heels because a suitable opponent could not be found before the start of the holy month of Ramadan.
Khan, who can’t wait to get back into action, said: “It is nearly agreed that I will fight the winner and I would like it to be over here next time, but it depends on the opponent and the broadcasters.”
Whoever wins will pose a stern test as they are both previous multi-world champions.
Marquez, aged 36, stepped up two weight divisions to take on Floyd Mayweather, which he lost heavily on points last September. Diaz, who is 10 years younger, has previously lost to Marquez and suffered defeat to Paulie Malignaggi in his last outing.
Khan’s admits he is unhappy at his seven-month absence from the ring.
The 23-year-old’s last outing was his impressive 11th-round stoppage of Malignaggi in New York in May and, although Khan wanted to fight again later this month, time ran out to find an opponent.
It is a scenario Khan admits will not be repeated.
He said: “It is a long break and my team thought it best for me not to fight but I am a born fighter and for someone like me I don’t want to take time off, especially not at this moment because I am at my prime.
“I don’t really want to miss a fight and it is a lesson to be learnt. I don’t think it will ever happen again and, hopefully, we will learn and not stay out of the game so long.
“I could have got an opponent but we would have been rushing it with Ramadan coming up. When we looked at the whole picture there was only four or five weeks of training, which was too short notice, so we decided to leave it.
“In future we will speak to everyone earlier but that was a mistake that we made and something that we will learn from.”
To add to Khan’s frustrations potential opponents such as John Murray and Michael Katsidis demanded too big a purse.
Khan added: “Many of the opponents over-priced themselves and then claimed that I didn’t want to fight them. If they want to fight me they will take the fight. They find an escape route. It leaves me frustrated but I have to carry on, stay focused and go to the gym and keep myself fit.”
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