Amir Khan

First topic message reminder :

Three quick points:

(1) I still find it hard to warm to the guy, hardly classy after the fight. He accuses McCloskey of quitting and then mocks the European level.

(2) He struggled to land clean, effective punches on McCloskey. Khan's performance didn't compare to say what Barerra was able to do to Naseem Hamed in terms of precision punching against an unorthodox fighter.

(3) The majority of Khan's fans aren't real boxing fans.

All in all, a poor undercard and a poor main event.

azania wrote:I have no idea how much the live gate was. I did hear last night that 18,000 tickets were sold. For a fight against a joke of an opponent, that is amazing. I asked if Maidana was PPV in USA. I'm sure it was and he was the headline act.

Headlined against Maidana and Malignaggi on HBO, but neither were PPV. Khan vs Bradley probably would be because supposedly Schaefer offered him $5m for that fight to renew his GBP contract.

azania wrote:

liam_main4 wrote:

azania wrote:

hitmansam wrote:Listen, had Khan shown some class I would be happy to get behind him. He's a cocky so & so and his behavior after the fight was disgusting. Let's not get carried away, he was lucky to have not been stopped in the 10th against Maidana. Had that fight been in England, the ref would have waved it off - Manfredo style.

I hope Bradley puts Khan to sleep.

He wasn't lucky against Maidana.

If he was getting hit went down got back up and got hit more it would of been stopped but the fact he stayed up signified to the ref he was alright.

And fighting back.

I always find Khan haters somewhat irrational.

I find haters irrational period!

Scottrf wrote:

azania wrote:I have no idea how much the live gate was. I did hear last night that 18,000 tickets were sold. For a fight against a joke of an opponent, that is amazing. I asked if Maidana was PPV in USA. I'm sure it was and he was the headline act.

Headlined against Maidana and Malignaggi on HBO, but neither were PPV. Khan vs Bradley probably would be because supposedly Schaefer offered him $5m for that fight to renew his GBP contract.

I stand corrected......again. $5m? They rate him highly it seems.

So McCloskey - European champion - is now "a joke". Great. The Khan-Maidana fight was not PPV and there were about 5000 fans in attendance. Stay on the Khan bandwagon - Bradley will beat him and that's a guarantee my friend. And if you think Khan is netting £2m (GBP) a fight then you're wrong - not yet he isn't. He netted around $900,000 (dollars) for the Maidana fight and that's before any tax. Mark my words, Bradley will break his heart. See you in July! Adios.

Just what I read but can't find a proper source.

hitmansam wrote:So McCloskey - European champion - is now "a joke". Great. The Khan-Maidana fight was not PPV and there were about 5000 fans in attendance. Stay on the Khan bandwagon - Bradley will beat him and that's a guarantee my friend. And if you think Khan is netting £2m (GBP) a fight then you're wrong - not yet he isn't. He netted around $900,000 (dollars) for the Maidana fight and that's before any tax. Mark my words, Bradley will break his heart. See you in July! Adios.

Bradley isn't that good that it's a guarantee win. I do think he will win but Khan could beat him if he sticks to boxing at range and timing the uppercut when Bradley walks in because he is liable to get caught with that punch.

hitmansam wrote:So McCloskey - European champion - is now "a joke". Great. The Khan-Maidana fight was not PPV and there were about 5000 fans in attendance. Stay on the Khan bandwagon - Bradley will beat him and that's a guarantee my friend. And if you think Khan is netting £2m (GBP) a fight then you're wrong - not yet he isn't. He netted around $900,000 (dollars) for the Maidana fight and that's before any tax. Mark my words, Bradley will break his heart. See you in July! Adios.

First you say being ranked 2nd is not good. So now it seems being a euro champ is something special. What is it? Khan's purse must have included PPV shares then to bump it up. I'm glad he is well paid for his efforts.

Hate is no good, especially for the health.

azania wrote:

hitmansam wrote:So McCloskey - European champion - is now "a joke". Great. The Khan-Maidana fight was not PPV and there were about 5000 fans in attendance. Stay on the Khan bandwagon - Bradley will beat him and that's a guarantee my friend. And if you think Khan is netting £2m (GBP) a fight then you're wrong - not yet he isn't. He netted around $900,000 (dollars) for the Maidana fight and that's before any tax. Mark my words, Bradley will break his heart. See you in July! Adios.

First you say being ranked 2nd is not good. So now it seems being a euro champ is something special. What is it? Khan's purse must have included PPV shares then to bump it up. I'm glad he is well paid for his efforts.

Hate is no good, especially for the health.

Where is the love bro?

Their aint much love round these parts all haters. Try off topic might start a share the love thread.

hitmansam wrote:So McCloskey - European champion - is now "a joke". Great. The Khan-Maidana fight was not PPV and there were about 5000 fans in attendance. Stay on the Khan bandwagon - Bradley will beat him and that's a guarantee my friend. And if you think Khan is netting £2m (GBP) a fight then you're wrong - not yet he isn't. He netted around $900,000 (dollars) for the Maidana fight and that's before any tax. Mark my words, Bradley will break his heart. See you in July! Adios.

You are being far over critical of Khan. Yes he has an attitude on him - but he is a professional fighter! Look at fighters like Ricky Burns - who says and does all the right things - but no-one has heard of him outside his village. No matter what Khan does - he gets criticism from people like you. I dont know what you expect from him. He does his job, earns a pretty penny and gives us cracking fights (expect the PM fight!).

I like boxing because it is entertainment. Khan provides this in spades. He wins, he is happy, i watch a great fight, I am happy.

No fighter is perfect, everyone has flaws. Khan gets a hard ride for flaws where most others get let off for these very same reasons. You can find flaws and deficiencies in EVERY fighter - no-one seems to jump on them so harshly.

I personally like my fighters to have some attitude, it makes the whole boxing scene more interesting and more exciting. If the sport was full of gentlemen shaking hands in the post fight press conferences the sport would have died about 50 years ago.

And no - Bradley won't break Khans heart - believe me if Maidana didnt - there is no chance Bradley will. Proof of this is round 11 of the Maidana fight. If there was a single round in all of Khans history that would break Khan's heart it was round 10 of this fight. But what did Khan do? Regrouped and brought the fight back to Maidana in the 11th and won the round.

On a side note - Khan has signed a four fight deal with GBP linked with HBO, not sure on the exact figure but it will be millions. Khan got 650k from HBO just for this fight on a tape delay.

Dazstarr wrote:Bradley won't break Khans heart - believe me if Maidana didnt - there is no chance Bradley will.

Bradley is better than Maidana. If Khan fights the same way he did against Maidana Bradley will beat him.

I agree, Bradley is way better than Maidana. but if Maidanas power didn't break khan, I doubt Bradleys work rate will do it either. khan isn't the kind of guy you can break. he will always keep trying. such is his nature. even against Prescott, he was trying to get up. the only way to stop khan I would say is physically stopping him.

Bradley can't hit as hard as Maidana but he has a higher work rate and is a lot fitter than Maidana. So although he is not as big a hitter is more consistent with his power and can go for 12 rounds Maidana takes rounds off and tired towards the end of the Khan fight.
Khan needs to outbox Bradley at range and time him walking in with an uppercut that punch could win him the fight imo.

Agree mate. Khan needs to be very very disciplined and stick to his game plan to beat someone as determined as Bradley. It is a winnable fight for Khan as long as his tactics are sound and he follows them to a tee.

Bradley is the ultimate professional. His dedication to the sport has got him where he is today. Although not naturally gifted he is a force to be reckoned with due to his unwavering work ethic.

I dont think it matters that Bradley may not be able to hit as hard as Maidana. You dont need to be a ferocious puncher to stop Khan and I think its safe to assume whatever power Bradley does carry is enough to KO Khan in the right conditions.

The fight hinges on how effectively Bradley can exploit Khans weaknesses and cope with his style.

Agree Manos, Bradley put Witter over and for all his faults Junior was always pretty durable. I personally think Bradley is a tricky fight. He is not a guy who does a lot well but has no real glaring weaknesses and he always seems to come in with a specific gameplan and sticks to that pretty well. By no means a gimme for Khan and credit will be due if he can get the win in that one

manos de piedra wrote:I dont think it matters that Bradley may not be able to hit as hard as Maidana. You dont need to be a ferocious puncher to stop Khan

Hi Manos

I dont agree as this hasn't been proven. The only time Khan has been stopped was from a ferocious punch.

rowley wrote:Agree Manos, Bradley put Witter over and for all his faults Junior was always pretty durable. I personally think Bradley is a tricky fight. He is not a guy who does a lot well but has no real glaring weaknesses and he always seems to come in with a specific gameplan and sticks to that pretty well. By no means a gimme for Khan and credit will be due if he can get the win in that one

I favour Bradley to win myself at the moment. Pre Maidana I would have leaned towards Khan but since then Ive just seen too many weakensses in his game that someone like Bradley should be able to exploit.

Also Khan is a better fighter than we saw on Saturday night. The PM fight shouldnt be used as a measure for the Bradley fight.

Dazstarr wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:I dont think it matters that Bradley may not be able to hit as hard as Maidana. You dont need to be a ferocious puncher to stop Khan

Hi Manos

I dont agree as this hasn't been proven. The only time Khan has been stopped was from a ferocious punch.

He has been knocked over by by guys like Willie Limmond and Michael Gomez. It may have been a few years ago and I would accept hes gotten stronger since then but it still indicates to me that someone like Bradley should have more than enough power to stop him. Or do you think only the most ferocious punchers are capable of it? Prescott was a lightweight its worth remembering whereas Bradley is a big lightwelter.

Agree again, think when Khan joined Roach he showed improvements but I personally think that has levelled out a little. Have not seen the fight at the weekend so will not comment on that but I don't see a lot of adaptability in Khan's work. He looks great when he can stay outside and throw his quick combos but wonder what he will do if someone is capable of pushing him back or closing the distance because when Maidana was able to make the fight a little rough late on Khan didn't really do much other than muddle through and where he in with a guy a little cuter he may have been taken out.

manos de piedra wrote:

Dazstarr wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:I dont think it matters that Bradley may not be able to hit as hard as Maidana. You dont need to be a ferocious puncher to stop Khan

Hi Manos

I dont agree as this hasn't been proven. The only time Khan has been stopped was from a ferocious punch.

He has been knocked over by by guys like Willie Limmond and Michael Gomez. It may have been a few years ago and I would accept hes gotten stronger since then but it still indicates to me that someone like Bradley should have more than enough power to stop him. Or do you think only the most ferocious punchers are capable of it? Prescott was a lightweight its worth remembering whereas Bradley is a big lightwelter.

Perhaps an accumulation of hard punches may put him down and being overwhelmed may stop stop him. A taste of his own medicine I guess! I heavily discount the early KO's in Khans career - he was a lot smaller then, and has filled out quite well in the past couple of years and will be comfortable at 147 very soon.

rowley wrote:Agree again, think when Khan joined Roach he showed improvements but I personally think that has levelled out a little. Have not seen the fight at the weekend so will not comment on that but I don't see a lot of adaptability in Khan's work. He looks great when he can stay outside and throw his quick combos but wonder what he will do if someone is capable of pushing him back or closing the distance because when Maidana was able to make the fight a little rough late on Khan didn't really do much other than muddle through and where he in with a guy a little cuter he may have been taken out.

Looks to me like he has zero inside game. Bradley is good on the inside so if and when it ever comes to that he should have a big advantage over Khan.

Not impressed by his counterpunching abilty, adaptabilty or abilty to adjust or jab either. Basically he hangs on the outside and rushes in little bursts throwing fast straight combos before retreating. Aside from doing that pretty well, I dont think there is alot else to his game and whatever people might say about proving his chin I still think he is vunerable in that regard and it may only take a case of him being trapped on the ropes once or twice for it to have devastating consequences to him.

A bit like Wlad Klitschko, I think he does what hes good at very well but I get the impression if that fails he has literally nothing else to fall back on.

The major difference I see between him and Wlad is Wlad is very very effective at avoiding the fight becoming anything other than his kind of fight, he ties guys up very well when they get in close and uses his size and strength to good effect in this regard. Have yet to see Khan display the ability to ensure the fight is fought solely on his terms.

Agreed - he doesnt have a good all round offensive package. Great boxer (when accurate) but no inside fighting and lack of a plan B is his downfall.

He occasionally throws banging shots - (round 1 maidana) but doesnt follow through with them. I reckon he could have finished Maidana if he kept on pounding the body early on.

His lack of in fighting is his greatest concern - as this is Bradleys strength (espy when you add his head!).

Should be a good fight anyhoo's. Hope it happens.

when people say class when refering to boxers, what do they mean, what sort of behaviour do you expect?? and what boxers do you like?

Dazstarr wrote:Agreed - he doesnt have a good all round offensive package. Great boxer (when accurate) but no inside fighting and lack of a plan B is his downfall.

He occasionally throws banging shots - (round 1 maidana) but doesnt follow through with them. I reckon he could have finished Maidana if he kept on pounding the body early on.

His lack of in fighting is his greatest concern - as this is Bradleys strength (espy when you add his head!).

Should be a good fight anyhoo's. Hope it happens.

Khans main attack is the head he only throws odd body punches.If Khan jabs and moves like against Malignaggi it's gonna be hard for Bradley to get in the inside key for Khan is hit and get out.If he does this he isn't going to need a Plan B Bradley will end up weakening and if Khan doesn't use up all of his energy he can get a late stoppage.But I agree about the Plan B bit if Khan gets caught hard he starts to panic and the game plan just goes out the window.

rowley wrote:The major difference I see between him and Wlad is Wlad is very very effective at avoiding the fight becoming anything other than his kind of fight, he ties guys up very well when they get in close and uses his size and strength to good effect in this regard. Have yet to see Khan display the ability to ensure the fight is fought solely on his terms.

Id probably draw parallels betwenn the Khan v Maidana fight and the first Wlad v Peter fight.

I rate Wlad pretty highly because theres not many that can do what he does so effectively. I think he has a jab to match all but the very best. But the Peter fight kind of showed to me that when you do get past it then hes in trouble. I dont actually think Peter ever hurt him in the fight and Ive always wondered if his chin is actually as bad as its made out. For me the problem with him is he starts scrambling when his defence is breached. His footwork abondons him and hes often caught between trying to jump back and tying up and ends up all over the place with his balance making him easy to knock over. Hes probably gotten better sice then in that regard but I still think if his jab fails its pretty much curtains for him because hes got nothing else. Thats why I can never understand the comparisons with Vitali. Theres massive differences.

Khan similarly looks destined to fail if his hit and run tactic fails. Im probably being slightly harsh because he came through Maidana at the end of the day but if we looking at Khan against the backdrop of a top fighter then I see too many weaknesses. I cant for intance understand why he couldnt get the jab working well against Maidana - a standard weapon against a come forward fighter. With his handspeed theres no real reason he couldnt have utilised it more effectively like say Froch v Abraham. Hes more concerned with sticking rigidly to his hit and run that he doesnt seem to contemplate anything else which may be effective.

Maidana is a handful so I dont want to sell him short but the level of impressiveness with Khan I think depends on how you rate him overall. I think a really top fighter should deal with Maidana more effectively. I rate Khan as "good" but I feel if he comes across a really good pressure fighter then hes done for. Hatton for instance I think would have been a nightmare oppponent for him and one I just couldnt see him beating.

1. I think Khan like a lot of people says things in the heat of the moment and the jeering of the crowd got to him, with that and the adrenaline I think he was speaking a little out of turn.

Every boxer can say stuff like this, look at the Benn vs McClellan fight and the things Benn was saying after that.

2. Agreed, he looked poor and it seemed that by just keeping his chin tucked in Khan had no answer to it. I think that the build up got to him (TV issues).

3. Well done to Khan for crossing over, not many boxers can do that.

If Khan can box and move against bradley, he should have a relatively easy nice.

He definitely needs to learn how to tie a fighter up on the inside though. He didn't do this against Maidana and it almost cost him dear.

samevans1 wrote:If Khan can box and move against bradley, he should have a relatively easy nice.

He definitely needs to learn how to tie a fighter up on the inside though. He didn't do this against Maidana and it almost cost him dear.

It's not that he can't tie up a fighter on the inside - he clearly cant do anything on the inside. He will keep back peddaling to find range again. Under pressure he reverts to type and that was his original style post amateur days. This will be his undoing.

He seriously needs to learn at least some inside work. Defensive and Offensive.

Like many the main concern with Khan is his weakness on the inside.

The type of fighter who could beat Khan would be someone who packs a decent punch, is a good tactician, and can close the distance very quickly thus stopping Khan from spending most of the fight at range, where he is most comfortable.

With Maidana he ticked two of those boxes as he had good KO power and was very fast in closing the space to Khan. Sadly he didn't have the technical nouse to close in on the latter stages of the fight. This weakness was also highlighted with his fight against Morales.

With Bradley we have that technical nouse, combined with the ability to close the distance very well. Sadly the KO power is lacking but the question is does Bradley have enough pop in his punches to keep Khan honest? Due to khan chin weakness some will say yes. Bradley though has to be very careful as shown with Maidana in the first round and other fights khan doesn't have single KO power, but his accuracy and blistering speed is enough that he can stop anyone with a few well timed shots that get through. Bradley's game plan will be to keep it close and rough him up... if Khan can come up with a way to keep the distance, and even try to fire uppercuts when bradley is on the way in he just may do enough to wear Bradley down to take it on points, or via late stoppage.

As a side note another fighter who I believe would cause huge problems for Khan is Ortiz as he is similar with Maidana on closing down the space and packs a punch. Might not be as technical as Bradley but would pose Khan a lot of problem if they ever meet IMO.

kevchadders wrote:Like many the main concern with Khan is his weakness on the inside.

The type of fighter who could beat Khan would be someone who packs a decent punch, is a good tactician, and can close the distance very quickly thus stopping Khan from spending most of the fight at range, where he is most comfortable.

With Maidana he ticked two of those boxes as he had good KO power and was very fast in closing the space to Khan. Sadly he didn't have the technical nouse to close in on the latter stages of the fight. This weakness was also highlighted with his fight against Morales.

With Bradley we have that technical nouse, combined with the ability to close the distance very well. Sadly the KO power is lacking but the question is does Bradley have enough pop in his punches to keep Khan honest? Due to khan chin weakness some will say yes. Bradley though has to be very careful as shown with Maidana in the first round and other fights khan doesn't have single KO power, but his accuracy and blistering speed is enough that he can stop anyone with a few well timed shots that get through. Bradley's game plan will be to keep it close and rough him up... if Khan can come up with a way to keep the distance, and even try to fire uppercuts when bradley is on the way in he just may do enough to wear Bradley down to take it on points, or via late stoppage.

As a side note another fighter who I believe would cause huge problems for Khan is Ortiz as he is similar with Maidana on closing down the space and packs a punch. Might not be as technical as Bradley but would pose Khan a lot of problem if they ever meet IMO.

Hey Kev

Good post, good shout with Ortiz. He seriously knows how to throw good, sharp, short punches on the inside. Would have Khan in trouble with lots of those.