Amir Khan: I'm not looking past Friday night

Boxing ace Amir Khan is refusing to overlook Chris Algieri despite media talk of a clash next up with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather. The 28-year-old Bolton star has been mooted as ‘Money’ Mayweather’s final opponent in September before he hangs up his gloves on an illustrious 19-year professional career. However, Khan has refused to be drawn into any Mayweather talk and insists his focus is solely on New Yorker Algieri, who he faces live and exclusive on BoxNation this Friday night.

“My thoughts are only on Chris Algieri and him alone,” said Khan. “I’m not looking past Friday night because in boxing you can never do that – I’ve learnt that through the years."

“You can’t ignore that history but at the end of the day I believe I will have too much for him.”

The former unified champion was referring to shock wins over the highly touted Emmanuel Taylor and the then WBO light-welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov, victories which propelled Algieri into a megafight with Manny Pacquiao. The 31-year-old was convincingly beaten in that fight last November but showed tremendous heart to keep persevering, something which impressed Khan.

“I think Algieri has learnt a lot of things from the Pacquiao fight. He may have lost but he showed great determination and will in there to keep getting back up and fighting,” said Khan.

“The fact he has changed trainers too shows the type of character he is. He wants to improve and get better and he recognised that he has to make changes – that’s something to admire."