Garcia assured me we will fight again: Amir Khan

LONDON: It’s one of two defeats that really bothers Amir Khan, and the former 140-pound champ remains ever hopeful he will get a chance to avenge it one day. The fight in question is the 2012 stoppage defeat Khan suffered at the dangerous hands – his left hand in particular – of Danny Garcia.

The hugely controversial points defeat to Lamont Peterson aside (this too being a loss Khan has never forgotten about wanting to avenge) the Garcia loss bugs Khan the most. Ahead on the cards and outboxing “Swift” at the time of the crushing stoppage (Khan still on his feet trying to fight back at the time of the referee’s timely stoppage) Khan is convinced he will beat Garcia in a return meeting.

And, as he explained when speaking with Sky Sports, Khan has been verbally assured by Garcia that the rematch will happen. Garcia, still unbeaten and heading into a massive welterweight unification fight with Keith Thurman (a fighter, incidentally, who Garcia rates below Khan) spoke with Khan in Florida and he told Khan the rematch will happen “some day.”

“That’s something I have always wanted,” Khan said of Garcia II. “I met Danny in Miami and we had a chat. He said to me, ‘Look, it’s going to happen again someday. Don’t know when.’ I’m sure Al Haymon will get that fight for me one day. It’s something I want as I have unfinished business with him. The only reason I can’t get that fight just yet is because Danny is fighting Keith Thurman, and that is a unification so it overrides any mandatory. That’s another fight out there for me. There are some big names like him and [Lamont] Peterson.”

Khan, despite his crushing May 2016 KO loss to Canelo Alvarez, has plenty of options. The Kell Brook showdown has reportedly reached advanced, and optimistic, talks, and with his “new” right hand (surgically repaired) Khan says he cannot wait to get back in the ring. Who knows, maybe the Bolton man could get himself a monstrous fight if Garcia beats Thurman and then looks to defend against him in that verbally assured rematch.

Imagine if this scenario did unfold, and if Khan won! That would be a slam-dunk for 2017’s Comeback of The Year.