by David P. Greisman

The fight between Amir Khan and Devon Alexander should’ve happened a year ago. It instead happened this past Saturday. It couldn’t have come at a better time. Now, as with last year, he’s angling for a fight with Floyd Mayweather. Now he’s more likely to get it.

It’s still far from guaranteed, wholly at the mercy of Mayweather and his desire for the bout that does the biggest business, though it’s not just whether the fight can make money but also whether it can be, well, made.

It’s still to be determined whether that means Mayweather will have the long-debated and long-negotiated mega-fight with Manny Pacquiao, a rematch with middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, or a showdown against one of many names at 147, coming up from 140, or even in the divisions above welterweight.

It’s still to be seen whether Cotto will sign for a big fight with Canelo Alvarez, presumably staking a claim to the May date that has become the traditional spot for Mayweather’s spring pay-per-views.

The fight between Khan and Devon Alexander didn’t happen a year ago. The negotiations continued on and on until the proposed fight was finally off. Alexander instead defended his welterweight world title against Shawn Porter and lost. (Porter ultimately lost the belt to Kell Brook earlier this year.)

Khan, who was planning a move up from the junior welterweight division, nominated himself as a worthy challenger. He took to the press and social media to lobby for a Mayweather fight and continued to do so as Mayweather conducted an online poll asking fans whom he should face in May 2014: Khan or Marcos Maidana.

Mayweather wound up facing and defeating Maidana twice this year. Khan dominated Luis Collazo on the pay-per-view undercard to Mayweather-Maidana 1. And he scored a wide decision over Alexander this past Saturday, bolstering his case for facing Floyd.

“I really believe I earned my shot against the best fighter in the world, which is Floyd Mayweather,” Khan was quoted as saying afterward. “I believe he'll have problems with my speed, movement and accuracy. I'm going to leave it to my team, and let's hope we get that fight.”

Of course, Khan said similar things before regarding how much he deserved the fight and how much difficulty he’d give Mayweather. Back then, however, Khan was wholly unproven at 147 with questions still being posed about how he’d looked most recently at 140.

He’d held a world title at 140 for more than two years, making four successful defenses. He’d beaten Paulie Malignaggi, survived a late scare to edge Maidana, won a technical decision over Paul McCloskey and sent Zab Judah home early. But then he lost via split decision to Lamont Peterson in December 2011, following that with a fourth-round stoppage loss to Danny Garcia in July 2012.

Khan and his supporters could at least argue that the Peterson loss was close and controversial, that one point on the cards made the difference between Peterson winning and the fight bing a draw, that two points on the cards made the difference between Peterson winning and Khan winning, and that, oh yes, two points had been deducted from Khan for the rare call of excessive pushing.

Later, after Khan-Peterson 2 was called off due to Peterson testing positive for synthetic testosterone, Peterson’s camp said the substance was a remnant in his system from treatment he’d received before the first Khan fight, meaning Peterson had won with a banned performance-enhancing drug in his system.

The loss to Garcia, meanwhile, came in a firefight with a hard puncher who is seen as the champion of the junior-welterweight division.

But then Khan followed those defeats with a meaningless win over an undersized Carlos Molina in December 2012, and he hit the canvas in a close and shaky victory over Julio Diaz in April 2013 in a fight contested at a limit of 142 pounds.

It wasn’t enough to earn Khan a fight with Mayweather. To Khan, that disappointment has turned out to be the proverbial blessing in disguise.

“I used it in a way as an advantage, to help me and to make me work on the things I needed to and spend a lot of time in the gym,” Khan was quoted as saying on a media conference call before this fight with Alexander. “Having to do that so when I did have my first fight at 147, I was very strong and I was on top of my game.”

“You need time to build into this weight division, even though I got to work on what I needed to work on like my boxing skills and defense and taking my time,” he said at another point on the call. “When you're in training camps, you're focusing on your fighter [you’re facing] and how to beat an opponent. That's all. You never really work on your mistakes.”

“So this time when I didn't really have an opponent, I was just working on improving myself, keeping in the gym. I had back-to-back training camps , so then when I did have that fight in May against Collazo, it was a great performance so it showed me a lot of things and it proved to me a lot of things that spending time in training camp in between camps, in between fights, does make you a better fighter. I think Devon's got me at my best time, I'm much better at 147. I feel stronger at this weight and I'm going to be more than ready; I'm going to be more ready than I was last year.”

He believed himself to be sturdier from not having to drop as much weight, a claim that also seemed true in the past when he initially moved from 135 to 140 about a year after his embarrassing one-minute knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in 2008. He looked to have grown into welterweight against Alexander, and on fight night he unofficially had rehydrated from 147 to 160 pounds.

Khan-Alexander was looked at as producing a potential opponent for Mayweather in 2015. Alexander’s name had been floated out there before in early 2013, back when he was newly recovering from a biceps injury that canceled his fight with Kell Brook.

“The negotiations for my fight are almost done. The front runner is IBF Champion Devon Alexander,” Mayweather had tweeted at the time.

But Richard Schaefer, then the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, the company that worked with both fighters, had said there were no negotiations that he knew of. In the end, Mayweather went on to face and defeat Robert Guerrero in May 2013, and it was rational to wonder whether Mayweather’s tweet was a way of letting Guerrero know to accept certain contractual terms or else face the possibility of someone else getting the big opportunity and payday.

Alexander likely won’t be facing Mayweather in 2015 either. Khan, in his third fight under trainer Virgil Hunter, stuck to a game plan that allowed him to stay safe yet remain effective with his height and speed. The scorecards reflected the ease with which Khan beat the former 140- and 147-pound titleholder, with the judges giving him 10, 11 and all 12 rounds.

The wins over Collazo and Alexander aren’t the most remarkable résumé for a welterweight in a packed division, but it’s much better than what Khan had done, or rather hadn’t done a year ago.

So much light has been made with puns based on the pronunciation of Khan’s last name and the failures he has experienced.

We now can tell that Khan’s no con artist at 147. We just don’t know whether that means he’ll wind up with the “Money” Mayweather fight.

The 10 Count

1. As HBO unofficial judge Harold Lederman gave his scores for Mauricio Herrera vs. Jose Benavidez — eight rounds to four for Herrera, or 116-112 — he said of Herrera, "I just hope the kid don't get robbed again because he's not a big puncher."

Lederman was referring back to Herrera’s loss against 140-pound champion Danny Garcia earlier this year, a defeat that some observers felt should’ve ended with Herrera as victor.

But then Lederman felt there was little chance of Herrera being robbed again given the pedigree of two of the three judges.

Max DeLuca, he said, is “a very, very good judge … [who] always does a good job.” Dave Moretti, he said, is “without question the best judge in Nevada,” a judge who Lederman recalled had the exact same scorecard as him for Sugar Ray Leonard’s win over Marvin Hagler.

And then the scorecards came for Herrera-Benavidez.

Moretti had Benavidez winning 117-111. DeLuca and judge Eric Cheek had Benavidez winning 116-112.

So much for that.

2. Lederman gave rounds 1 through 3 to Herrera.

DeLuca only gave round 1 to Herrera. Cheek gave rounds 1 and 2 to Herrera. Moretti gave rounds 1 and 3 to Herrera.

(DeLuca also was the sole judge to give round 5 to Herrera. Lederman, like the rest, had that round for Benavidez.)

Lederman then scored rounds 7 through 10 for Herrera.

DeLuca only gave rounds 9 and 10 to Herrera. Cheek only gave rounds 8 and 9 to Herrera. And Moretti only gave round 8 to Herrera. None of the official judges gave him round 7.

Lederman gave round 12 to Herrera. None of the three official judges did.

That means that a majority of the official judges agreed with Lederman for only seven of the 12 rounds: on round 1 (Herrera), 4 (Benavidez), 5 (Benavidez), 6 (Benavidez), 8 (Herrera), 9 (Herrera), and 11 (Benavidez).

If you went by “majority” rules with the official judges, you’d have given rounds 1, 8, and 9 to Herrera, and rounds 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 12 to Benavidez, for a final card of 117-111 Benavidez.

The judges did differ a lot. Herrera won on at least one of the judges’ cards in 7 of the 12 rounds. But Benavidez won on at least one of the judges’ cards in 11 of the 12 rounds.

The sole round that Benavidez lost unanimously was the opening round.

3. It was asked afterward whether a fighter has had a more hard luck year on the scorecards than Mauricio Herrera in 2014.

I feel for Herrera, but I’m wondering whether at least one year in the career of Glen Johnson is similarly worthy of such a dishonorable mention.

4. Then we got another debatable/detestable set of scorecards for the HBO main event involving Timothy Bradley and Diego Chaves.

Lederman’s score was 116-112 for Bradley, or eight rounds to four. He described Burt Clements as a “really veteran Nevada judge,” said of daughter Julie Lederman that she is the “best judge in my house,” and called Craig Metcalfe “the best judge in Canada, [a] really, really good judge from Calgary.”

Clements had it 115-113 for Bradley. Julie Lederman had it 116-112 for Chaves. Metcalfe had it even at 114-114.

5. Harold Lederman gave rounds 1 through 5 to Bradley.

Clements and Metcalfe each gave Bradley four of the first five rounds, with Clements seeing rounds 2 through 5 for him and Metcalf seeing rounds 1, 2, 3 and 5 for him. Julie Lederman had Bradley winning three of the first five: rounds 2, 3 and 5.

Harold Lederman gave rounds 7, 8 and 10 to Bradley.

Only Metcalfe agreed with Harold on round 7, while all three official judges agreed with him on round 8. Only Clements agreed with Harold on round 10.

That means that a majority of the official judges agreed with Harold on eight of the 12 rounds: round 2 (Bradley), 3 (Bradley), 5 (Bradley), 6 (Chaves), 8 (Bradley), 9 (Chaves), 11 (Chaves) and 12 (Chaves).

If you went by “majority” rules with the official judges, you’d have given rounds 2, 3, 5 and 8 to Bradley, and rounds 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12 to Chaves, for a ridiculous final card of 116-112 for Chaves.

Once again, the judges differed a lot. Bradley won on at least one of the judges’ cards in 9 of the 12 rounds. Interestingly, Chaves won on at least one of the judges’ cards in 8 of the 12 rounds.

6. Barring a rematch between Timothy Bradley and Diego Chaves — a rematch I don’t think we’ll see — I’d love to see a second go-around between Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov, though I’d also enjoy a sequel involving Provodnikov and Chris Algieri.

I don’t think another bout between Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez is sellable on pay-per-view, which is the platform that would likely be needed to pay both their purses.

I’m also all in favor of a bout between Keith Thurman and Marcos Maidana. I wanted it a year ago when Thurman topped Jesus Soto Karass and Maidana beat Adrien Broner on the same card in San Antonio. The desire hasn’t at all diminished, so long as we get the Thurman who battled Soto Karass and not the one who boxed Bundu this past Saturday.

7. Boxers Behaving Badly update: Jermain Taylor has entered a not guilty plea in the case stemming from an incident in which the middleweight titleholder allegedly shot his cousin and threatened another man in late August, according to Arkansas television station KTHV.

A hearing has been scheduled for May 29, 2015, and a jury trial is scheduled to take place on June 23 and June 24, 2015, according to online court records. Taylor is facing one felony count of first-degree battery and one felony count of first-degree terroristic threatening.



Taylor, who is 36 years old, won the middleweight championship in 2005 with a split decision win over Bernard Hopkins. He reigned until 2007, losing via technical knockout to Kelly Pavlik. Taylor dropped a decision to Pavlik in a rematch, won a decision over Jeff Lacy and then was stopped by Carl Froch in the final round of their fight in early 2009. He then entered the “Super Six” super middleweight tournament.

His first and only tournament fight came against Arthur Abraham, who scored a one-punch, 12th-round knockout. Taylor suffered a brain bleed and was out of the sport for about two years. He returned in late 2011 after undergoing a series of medical examinations. Taylor won four bouts in a row and ultimately met a hobbled Sam Soliman this past October, scoring several knockdowns and taking Soliman’s title by unanimous decision. That moved Taylor’s record to 33-4-1 with 20 KOs.

8. Boxers Behaving Badly, part one: A featherweight boxer named Trevis Hall allegedly fatally stabbed and bludgeoned his girlfriend, according to the New York Daily News.



The woman’s death is a sad ending that followed previous alleged incidents, according to the article: “Hall threatened [his girlfriend] with a knife in June and cops were called to the home [the week before her death] for another dispute, police said.” He was arrested on Dec. 1, had a court appearance last week and has another one scheduled for Jan. 8, according to online court records.



Hall, 28, is originally from Guyana, turned pro as a boxer in Florida and soon began to fight out of the New York City borough of Queens. He was 6-1-1 as a pro, had won four in a row and had last been in the ring this past September.

9. Last week’s edition of The 10 Count chronicled the legal troubles of Antonio Escalante, the former junior featherweight and featherweight who has been arrested four times in 2014 for allegedly driving drunk, with the latest incident coming just weeks after he’d pleaded guilty to charges stemming from two of those cases.

Amazingly, the name of the Nov. 21 boxing card on which he was supposed to fight was called “Most Wanted.”

You can’t make these things up. Here’s a link to the poster: http://bit.ly/tonymostwanted

10. There hasn’t been that much truth in advertising involving a boxer since the time Victor Ortiz appeared on a poster for “The Expendables.”

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com