Former featherweight champion Billy Dib (45-5, 26 KOs) of Australia will be a new rival for Amir Khan (33-5, 20 KOs) on July 12 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Initially the British was going to meet Neeraj Goyat (11-3-2, 2 KOs), who was injured in a car accident and will not be able to recover in time to the scheduled date.
Admittedly, the new Khan's opponent is a really good replacement for such a short time before the battle, although the best years of Dib are already gone. Dib was the IBF featherweight title holder in 2011, defeating Jose Laserve on points. Dib lost his title in the third defense. In December 2013 he lost to Eugene Gradovich. Last August Dib again challenged IBF featherweight belt , but lost to Tevin Farmer. After this defeat, the Australian announced retirement, but changed his mind and returned to the ring this April, knocking out frankly weak Surachet Tongmala.
The fight of Khan against Dib will be held in the welterweight division, which is more familiar for the British. The difference in size of both fighters will be obviously noticeable in battle, Dib is a fighter who for most of his career was fighting in the featherweights. One of the reasons why the Australian could become the opponent for Khan is the fact that his parents came from the Middle East, and more specifically from Lebanon. Family of Khan hails from Pakistan. If Amir defeats Dib on July 12, he should get a good purse (when Khan's opponent was Goyat they were talking about a few million dollars), and in November in Jeddah Khan could face Manny Pacquiao.
