Frankie Gavin hoping for Amir Khan chance - "Hopefully I'll be his banana skin"
Frankie Gavin hoping for Amir Khan chance - "Hopefully I'll be his banana skin" By Phil Barnett, Press Association Sport (@BarnettoPA) on Doghouse Boxing (Dec 17, 2013) TweetFollow @DoghouseBoxing
Unbeaten welterweight Frankie Gavin expects Amir Khan to lose his blockbuster with Floyd Mayweather next year and insists he is ready to knock out his former amateur team-mate himself once the American is done with him.
Khan is set to secure a lucrative shot at pound-for-pound king Mayweather in the spring despite a poor run of form over the last two years. The 2004 Olympic silver medalist has suffered damaging losses against Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia since 2011, with his only wins being relatively poor showings against Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz.
British and Commonwealth welterweight champion Gavin, meanwhile, is gradually progressing towards world title level as he continues his unbeaten apprenticeship in the professional game.
The 28-year-old Brummie, who sparred hundreds of rounds with Khan as Great Britain team-mates, believes Mayweather will deal with Khan's threat comfortably and hopes the Bolton fighter would look to rebuild from defeat to the American by coming back to Britain for a big domestic clash.
"I think I'm at Khan's level now," Gavin told Press Association Sport.
"No disrespect to him, because he's a great fighter. But he's on the decline. He's not the fighter he was. He's not the fighter who beat Marcos Maidana. We saw that in his last fight, against Julio Diaz. I think I could beat Khan now, most definitely.
"Some people will say 'no chance', because of his speed. But I'm not a bad puncher myself and if I hit him on the chin, anything can happen with Khan. We've seen it many times where he's been ahead and one punch has changed the fight. We even saw his vulnerability against guys like Willie Limond and Michael Gomez early in his career."
Gavin, who defends his Commonwealth title against Ghana's Joseph Lamptey on Saturday, added: "I believe I possess the punch that could knock Khan out. "I'm also technically very good. His footwork is no better than mine and also he gets hit a lot more often than I do. It's a good fight on paper.
"He's got the Mayweather fight and I don't think he's going to win. So as long as I win my next few fights, hopefully he's going to decide to rebuild his career in Britain and hopefully I'll be his banana skin."
