King Khan rules at Barclays Center

Beats Algieri to Set up Potential Mega-Fight with Mayweather

June 2, 2015 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Amir “King” Khan may have punched his ticket to a showdown with Floyd Mayweather later this year after scoring a unanimous decision victory over Chris Algieri at the Barclays Center last Friday night. AP photo

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It was the fight after this one for Amir “King” Khan that had everyone talking.

So it would have been a disaster, both professionally and especially financially, if the 28-year-old British-born pugilist had squandered his golden opportunity during last Friday night’s welterweight bout against Long Island native Chris Algieri at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

So he didn’t.

Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) scored a unanimous decision victory over the very game but ultimately overmatched Algieri to set himself up for the most lucrative and important fight of his career against Floyd Mayweather later this year, if in fact, the pound-for-pound champ tabs him as his next opponent.

“Everyone knows I want Floyd next after all the talk about it,” Khan ceded moments after the judges gave him a 115-113, 117-111 and 117-111 decision over Algieri in the headline bout.

“But when you wait and hope for something for this long it can set you back,” he added. “I don’t want to overlook any other fighters, including Chris.”

Nor did he.

Algieri, who was knocked down six times en route to a punishing loss against Manny Pacquiao for his first career defeat last year, hung with Khan throughout the evening, but was never able to penetrate nor push him out of his comfort zone.

“I thought I worked well inside,” Khan said of his ring generalship. “I’ve never done a lot of work in the pocket like that and I plan to do more of that in the future. I give Chris a lot of credit. He came forward a lot more than we thought he would and he had a big chin tonight.”

Khan showed some chin of his own, absorbing several big shots from Algieri during the fight without displaying any signs of losing his legs or falling off the pace, as evidenced in a TKO loss to Danny Garcia in 2012.

A winner of five fights in a row since that painful defeat, Khan is now in line to be the 49th, and perhaps final, opponent for the still-undefeated and virtually unchallenged Mayweather.

“I thought I hurt him several times, but Khan’s a cagey fighter and he spins off,” noted Algieri, who fell to 20-2 with his second straight defeat. “I guess the judges liked that tonight. I would think the cleaner, harder shots would get a little more respect.”

“Chris gave it his all tonight,” Khan said. “This is the best Algieri we’ve seen in a long time, and if he’d have fought Manny that way he might have won.”

Those who had hoped to see Bensonhurst native and local favorite Paulie Malignaggi in the evening’s co-feature instead had to settle for what turned out to be a crowd-pleasing unanimous decision win by Javier Fortuna (28-0-1) over Bryan Vasquez (34-2, 18 KOs).

“I’m very surprised that the fight went the distance,” said Fortuna. “Vasquez is a strong fighter. After the fifth round, I was boxing to score points.

Malignaggi dropped out of his scheduled bout with Danny O’Connor due to a deep cut suffered during training two weeks ago, spoiling what many hoped would be his comeback fight in our fair borough more than a year after his fourth-round TKO loss to Shawn Porter in Washington, D.C.

“Becoming a champion here in New York is huge for me,” added Fortuna after capturing the WBA Super Featherweight title. “I’m very proud of my performance tonight.”

Staten Island light-heavyweight and former U.S. Olympian Marcus Browne (15-0, 11 KOs) continued the perfect start to his pro career by besting Cornelius White via a 10-round unanimous decision Friday night.

“It wasn’t the prettiest fight, but I had to get rugged and dirty with him,” confessed Browne, who is now 8-0 in Barclays Center bouts. “I had it in mind to stop him a little earlier. I guess I was pushing for it a little bit too much.”

Ultimately, the 12th card at Brooklyn’s new home for boxing belonged to Khan, who is now ready to take on the most sought-after fighter in the world.

“The indications are that I have strengthened my case with my win over Algieri, and I believe there is every chance the fight [with Mayweather] could be confirmed within the next two weeks,” Khan told Britain’s Daily Mail on Tuesday.