Right now, it seems academic to debate on what if Manny Pacquiao had chosen Amir Khan as his last dance partner for April 9 since Timothy Bradley Jr. has been named as the Filipino's official opponent.
As many have probably read by now, the choice of Bradley all boiled down to the financial aspect — in lay man's terms, the most profitable one.
Only perhaps Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Michael Koncz were aware of the figures for the names on the shortlist, but a recent report from Boxing News seems to back that up.
As far as Amir Khan is concerned, HBO didn't want him to be Pacquiao's final opponent, shared Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach to Boxing News. And the reason behind that isn't really something new since Khan may not yet be "up there" if one thinks about Pacquiao or even Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Khan got shunned by Mayweather for his last match and yet again by Pacquiao. He now finds himself looking for someone to fight, a drastic realization that he may have to build up his hype some more before he can be considered among the big draws on pay-per-view (PPV).
Ironically, Khan did stress such to Kell Brook when his countryman was egging him for a fight. At that time, Khan advised Brook to fight high profile fighters so his stock could get a boost.
Now, Khan finds himself being technically in the same shoe and may eventually end up facing Brook after all. But the British southpaw will have to wait a bit since Brook is set to face mandatory International Boxing Federation (IBF) challenger Kevin Bizier next month.
Khan has reportedly also sent feelers to Liam Smith via the Daily Mail. But the problem is Smith is also being wooed to a possible fight with Saúl "Canelo" Alvarez, as reported by the Liverpool Echo. Although nothing has been made official, it is likely that Smith would prefer to face Alvarez over Khan.
From a standpoint, it does seem like Khan is seeing his stock dipping. For his sake, he may want to start working on that and realize exactly where he ranks in the boxing circle.
