Thursday, 21 January 2010

Khan-Maidana Negotiations Granted Extension -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

WBA junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion Amir Khan is in negotiations for a mandatory defense against hard-hitting Argentinian Marcos Rene Maidana, but their bout is not set, Golden Boy Promotions CEO, Richard Schaefer, told FanHouse on Monday.

"Today, there was a scheduled purse bid between Khan and Maidana. But we asked the WBA and our co-promoters of Maidana to please postpone the purse bid by two weeks, because we've just been appointed as Amir's new promoter, so I wanted to get two weeks so that I can sit down with each party to see what can be worked out or what situation makes the most sense," said Schaefer.

"That extension was granted this morning. It was supposed to go to purse bids, because, obviously, we couldn't agree on terms," said Schaefer. "But now, with us being involved with Khan, we want to see what's best for Maidana and what is best for Khan."

On Tuesday, the Associated Press cited the WBA's website as reporting that Khan (22-1, 16 knockouts) and Maidana (27-1, 26 KOs) had reached a tentative agreement to meet at the end of March or in early April, and that Khan could make his U.S. debut in Las Vegas or fight again in Manchester, England.

Schaefer also denied a report on Boxrec.com that the fight already is scheduled for April 17 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, citing a likely WBA heavyweight defense by England's David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) against American John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KOs) on April 3.

"Amir Khan is not going to fight in April, the reason, by the way, is that Amir Khan is obviously a pay-per-view attraction. And Sky Sports, which is the only platform in the United Kingdom that does pay-per-view, they only do one pay-per-view per month," said Schaefer, whose Golden Boy Promotions recently signed Ruiz and also works on behalf of Haye in
America.

"In April, on April 3, it looks like David Haye and John Ruiz are going to fight in England on pay-per-view," said Schaefer. "So, obviously, there couldn't be another pay-per-view date for Amir Khan in April. That's not 100 percent confirmed, but it appears to be the case. They're still trying to finalize the site and so on, so I don't have final conformation for that, but it looks like it."

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com

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