Amir Khan vs. Chris Algieri: Latest Pre-Fight Odds, Comments and Predictions

There is little time off between cards for the nascent Premier Boxing Champions series, and Friday's bout between Amir "King" Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) and Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) will likely be one of the series' more heavily scrutinized headliners considering the implications for both fighters and the jockeying for position in a talented welterweight division.

The bout is set to air on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. This will be Khan's second defense of his WBC Silver welterweight title, a belt he won in defeating Luis Collazo in May 2014 and retained in a brilliant win over Devon Alexander in December.

Spike TV offered a peek into the buildup to the bout, via Twitter:

A battle for the vacant WBA World super featherweight title between undefeated Javier Fortuna (27-0-1, 20 KOs) and Bryan Vargas complements Khan-Algieri (34-1-0, 18 KOs) on the televised card.

Here's a look at the latest pre-fight odds for Khan-Algieri, along with some of the latest comments and a prediction for how this bout might turn out in prime time on Friday.

Odds

Note: Odds courtesy of Odds Shark and updated as of Thursday, May 28 at 5 a.m. ET.

Comments, Prediction

Khan will be looking for a decisive win over Algieri on Friday to keep his name in contention for a possible bout with Floyd Mayweather. He also needs the win if he is to keep apace as British boxing's biggest welterweight star. Khan's rival in that category, Kell "The Special One" Brook (34-0, 23 KOs), takes on Frankie Gavin (22-1, 13 KOs) on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London.

Although Khan has been vocal about fighting Mayweather in the past, he recently downplayed that talk, instead choosing to focus on the actual opponent at hand.

"There's no point looking at Mayweather because that might never happen," he said, per BBC Sport. He also insisted that his training was devoted to beating Algieri, not any hypothetical adversary.

"The guy I'm fighting, the guy I've been working on, the techniques I've been working on is to beat Chris Algieri, not Mayweather, not Pacquiao," said the Bolton boxer, per BBC Sport.

It's worth noting that with Brook fighting in London the day after Khan's bout against Algieri, the British-Pakistan star isn't taking on the best possible opponent this weekend. Since there is shortage of bravado and provocation in boxing, this has led to the likes of Matchroom Sport's Barry Hearn, a promoter of Brook, intimating Khan is scared to take on the 29-year-old IBF World welterweight champion, per Sky Sports:

Khan is petrified about him, because if Khan gets beat by a Mayweather or a Pacquiao, he can still fight Kell Brook in his mind. His value is going down, but if he fights Kell Brook first and gets beat, then that’s probably the end of Amir Khan - and frankly we are a huge odds-on favourite for that fight.

With superfights on hold for now, the question becomes how Khan will defeat Algieri and not give away his chance to lord over the welterweight division in the coming years. 

Algieri is coming off a merciless beatdown at the gloves of Manny Pacquiao in December, a bout in which he hit the canvas six times and hardly resembled the fighter who scored notable victories over Emmanuel Taylor and Ruslan Provodnikov.

The former kickboxer with a master's degree in clinical nutrition will be out to prove that he's deserving of more high-profile bouts and not merely a club boxer elevated to the upper echelon of his division with a couple of surprise wins. Part of this effort has included a new boxing trainer in John David Jackson.

"It shows that I'm taking this sport very seriously," Algieri said Wednesday, per Newsday's Greg Logan. "I've made some changes to the team. I've revamped things and added experience, and now we're going to go out and test it at the highest level. I'm not tiptoeing into it."

Algieri does have the luxury as an underdog of fighting on his home turf. The Long Island native has fought all but one of his career fights in New York, including the win over Provodnikov at the Barclays Center.

Khan has also noted Algieri's physical advantages in the buildup to this fight.

"I think it's all about being smart and being one step ahead of everything. Not falling short because he's quite taller and has a long range himself," said Khan, via ESPN UK's Brian Campbell.

Algieri's obvious lack of power means he will more than likely have to outpunch Khan, a dubious proposition considering the latter's unassailable hand speed and time spent fighting excellent boxers such as Alexander, Lamont Peterson and Collazo, among others.

To be fair, Jackson has said that he's been working with Algieri on developing his power and using his right hand.

"I've worked on the right hand tremendously," Jackson said, via Logan. "He throws it, but there was no conviction on it. I said, 'When you throw the punch, you've got to hurt him. That's what it's there for.'"

Duly noted, but any new wrinkles in Algieri's attack may prove fruitless against a Khan better committed to the defensive and technical aspects of boxing under trainer Virgil Hunter.

Khan proved against Alexander that he can bear down and commit to picking an opponent apart without putting himself in unnecessary danger. He's improved since suffering back-to-back defeats against Peterson and Danny Garcia. Algieri doesn't have the tools necessary to take advantage of Khan's less-than-stellar chin.

Algieri will probably look to control tempo and range with his jab, but he seems to have little in his arsenal to deter Khan from coming inside for quick combinations before darting out of harm's way. Look for Khan to outbox and outwork Algieri on Friday, but come up just short of ending the fight early.

Prediction: Khan wins by lopsided unanimous decision