Amir Khan - Spoilers

What next for Khan?

His punch resistance looked worse than ever, every punch the average hitting former lightweight Diaz threw had the viewer thinking 'this could be the punch that ends this'.

I don't think it's the number of punches Khan ships it's more that every power shot that lands has the potential to induce his unique style of dancing, maybe it should be called the Khan-Khan.

There's a lot of talk about whether Hunter has improved Khan as a fighter and also that Alex Ariza had Khan in better strength and fighting condition than Conte is achieving e.g. Khan's upper body has got too big slowing him down while much needed leg muscle has been sacrificed. Ariza has also said Khan is not able to hit as hard as earlier in his career due an accumulation of hand injuries.

Freddie Roach taught Khan to use his attack to win fights and attack is the best form of defense. Virgil Hunter is telling Khan to fight at distance and to circle away from the opponents left hook. He has taught Khan to let go of his ego and not get into wars. The new Khan when caught gets on his bike and as we saw last night blatantly hugs and holds. For a guy with such a weak chin this is not a bad development in my view.

Has Khan at this stage got the ability to be taught how to slip and block punches? I'm not sure he has. Should Khan go back to the clam shell he used against Kotelnic?

Whatever happens in the future I think at 26 years old we are already seeing a fighter in decline.

Is there an argument he should hang up his gloves, get married and sail off into the sunset with his millions?

I reckon he should still beat peterson and maybe Garcia although I wouldnt bet on the latter. I somehow doubt he could beat Matthysse but I want to see him in a couple more fights first before I completely write him off.

If he fights like that three more times Amir will become punch drunk.

I'm a bit worried that Amir isn't seeing the left hook.

I mean I don't actually think he can see the punch from a normal range. I'm worried his reactions, his eye is damaged that way, genuinely. Thoughts?

Id have to watch the fight, in comparison to earlier bouts to tell if reflexes/eye has been damaged, Davide

He can beat alexander - then fight Mayweather, then retire

He struggles with left hooks and Garcia will throw that all night! Any big hitter with reasonable speed and timing will beat him! I also think Peterson will just put on pressure from the off! I can't believe Diaz last night wasn't going for pressure once he wobbled him

You could see from the off that they were trying a more safety oriented approach but the problem was different tactics, similar results. When Khan does exchange and let his hands go the same problems are there.

His biggest asset is his handspeed and punch accuracy but its also what puts him into the danger zone. His survival intincts maybe were a bit better although you wonder if it was a bigger puncher or a genuine top contender he was fighting would they have finished him off all the same.

Virgil has had some affect, as at times when he was hurt he started grabbing and hugging diaz, something his never done before, however i cant help but think a bigger puncher would have knocked him out, and had diaz been more aggressive from the start i think it could have taken the fight. Overall i wasnt impressed with his performance and against someone like diaz he should have looked far better. Dont think his ready for Garcia or Peterson just yet.

Losing Ariza has had a big impact on him strength and conditioning wise, we saw this in the mcloskey fight, not soo much in the molina fight and last night, I think if he goes to 147 he struggles.

Do you think khan will lose any casual fans after last nights performace? Or will the fact that it was an exciting fight still endear him to the public regardless of how average the opposition was?

Ariza is not an issue. Being strong and well conditioned doesn't teach you to put your right glove by your chin.

With Khan you're guaranteed edge of your seat stuff. The fight is never over and he can't settle for a comfortable points win. He will never be in a boring fight. All boxers know his vulnerabilities.

I think its 50/50 afew of my mates texted me las night saying they see why i call him overrated, but others were like "his still learning" not on facebook anymore but his facebook page would be a better indication as is his twitter account.

Agreed Manos,

There is one glaring thing with Amir that I am surprised his numerous coaches haven't worked out and stopped him doing. He throws too many shots when throwing his combinations...this leaves him in the pocket for to long (as others have alluded to)...but more importantly it takes the pop out of the initial shots.

For me he should have one of the best jabs in the business and it is this which he should be using to stop his opponents getting across him and throwing the left hook. Instead of pumping out 4 or 5 quick jabs followed by the wide right or uppercut right he should be reducing the jab to a 2/3 punch combo allowing him to sit down on the shot a little more thus increasing the power of it. When coming away from his opponent he needs to throw a short check right which would reduce the time frame of that gap being open for the left hook.

The safety tactics aren't working, That's as bad as I have seen Khan fight. The only plus is that he didn't trade after being tagged. But he got tagged a lot. think back to maidana, he got tagged once in the 10th (I think), and fought his way out of it.
A light punching lightweight in Diaz tagged him, at least 4 times, Khan is lost, where next? he's a KO waiting to happen, he seems to be caught in two minds. His number one asset is blistering offense, where he can get off 5 - 7 shot combo's, he was restricted to 3's last night and because his power isn't great it wasn't enough to restrict Diaz from coming forward.

I don't know what is too be done with Khan, but I think he's going backwards.

Ha, it seems I have the complete opposite view point to you Ozzy. Funny we wrote the complete opposite criticisms at the same time.

jimdig wrote:The safety tactics aren't working, That's as bad as I have seen Khan fight. The only plus is that he didn't trade after being tagged. But he got tagged a lot. think back to maidana, he got tagged once in the 10th (I think), and fought his way out of it.
A light punching lightweight in Diaz tagged him, at least 4 times, Khan is lost, where next? he's a KO waiting to happen, he seems to be caught in two minds. His number one asset is blistering offense, where he can get off 5 - 7 shot combo's, he was restricted to 3's last night and because his power isn't great it wasn't enough to restrict Diaz from coming forward.

I don't know what is too be done with Khan, but I think he's going backwards.

He isn't. He has a high KO percentage and was coming down from WW.

I thought the Porter fight was his first outing at welter, I stand corrected if he's been campaigning there for a while, I only remember him as being a lightweight contender. Certainly never thought of him being heavy handed. I'll have to boxrec him for KO percentages.

Jimdig -

I'm not sure we have complete opposite views pal. In fact I agree with regard to the safety tactics not working...but I think this is because he is stuck in 2 minds as to how to fight. He is unsure whether to just use his speed and circle...as he is being taught...or whether to sit on his shots a little more and try to discourage his opponent from coming forward.

As I said in my other post I think the safety first approach can work...but only if he reduces the number of times he is throwing that jab in order to sit down on each one a little more. It is all well and good having fast hands but unless it is discouraging your opponent from coming forward then they will continue to plow through everything throwing that looping left on the way in.

I do think Khan has some genuine power but he has to give up some of these 6 punch combo's in order to show it. Throwing 6 quick punches and circling doesn't get you out of the pocket any quicker than throwing 2 solid jabs and a check right...and at least with the latter you stand a chance of putting some kind of dent into your opponent.

He's fast and accurate enough to throw a lead right hand like Mayweather does which is something I don't think I've seen from Khan. If he could learn how to do that he might have a bit more variation and hopefully it should carry some stopping power to halt guys just walking through him, if he could hold on after throwing it as well then that should keep him out of trouble.

"Khan is a world class boxer with world class flaws"

Thats what Michael Gomez said after his loss to Khan.
It remains true still to this day.

His punch resistance is worse than ever! Richie Woodhall said after the fight "some experts say you have 4 or 5 hard fights in a career & that was one of them"

Agreed, it was but he's had that many already! Prescott, Maidana, Peterson, Garcia & now Diaz & he's only 26!

Didn't like his hit & run style, looks cowardly & right from the off he looked scared to be hit, doesn't usually look that scared so wouldn't be surprised if he's been shaken up in sparring lately & knows what little resistance he had is now fading.

You don't have to run to have a good defence, keep your hands to & move the upper body, Khan struggles to do this & I think it's evidence that his training with Hunter isn't going as well as they make out it is.

To be fair in the Peterson & Maidana fights he took some almighty wallops & still stood but last night the punches that wobbled him didn't look as hard as the ones he took in those 2 fights, which is worrying for him.

Awful refereeing too, like in the Martinez fight later on the visiting guy got warned by the ref for hitting him! Hate things like that.

Can't argue with the decision in this one though, Khan won the fight for sure

Don't really see what there is left for Khan, I fear that if he carries on & especially if he moves up to 147 permanent he's gonna get seriously permanently hurt, for me that's well & truly on the cards after last night.

Khan should move up, maybe middle and get a fight with Canelo.




would 'love' to see that.

owen10ozzy wrote:Agreed Manos,

There is one glaring thing with Amir that I am surprised his numerous coaches haven't worked out and stopped him doing. He throws too many shots when throwing his combinations...this leaves him in the pocket for to long (as others have alluded to)...but more importantly it takes the pop out of the initial shots.

For me he should have one of the best jabs in the business and it is this which he should be using to stop his opponents getting across him and throwing the left hook. Instead of pumping out 4 or 5 quick jabs followed by the wide right or uppercut right he should be reducing the jab to a 2/3 punch combo allowing him to sit down on the shot a little more thus increasing the power of it. When coming away from his opponent he needs to throw a short check right which would reduce the time frame of that gap being open for the left hook.

That's exactly it Ozzy, he stays too long in range trying to exploit his speed with extra punches. The problem being that without a good inside game, he ends up leaving himself open to shots flush on his chin which is normally high in the air. This stance doesn't even give him a chance to ride the shots properly.

He abandoned his jab mid fight last night when things got tougher so it was easier for Diaz to close the gap.

It's not what we normally say when critiquing boxers but he'd be better off pot shotting rather than looking for 5 or 6 punch combos centre ring. He's fit enough and fast enough to land many pot shots and shorter combos which will both do damage and win points.

Saying all that... he is fun to watch like this.

jimdig wrote:
A light punching lightweight in Diaz tagged him, at least 4 times

Light punching? Lightweight?

Diaz came in Heavier than Khan, in fact he came in Heavier than Khan has ever been, and is very comfortable at the weight.

Looking at Khan's feet he looked flat footed to me. He threw some punches when on his heels. Definitely looks like Hunter doesn't want him jumping around like a headless chicken.

I see Hunter as no fool but some of these coaches make their name off the talent of fighters more than their own genius. Ward would still be an exceptional fighter with a mediocre trainer.


The Khan that fought Kotelnik was Roach's design for Khan working to perfection, unfortunately that method fell apart when Khan shiped a heavy dig.

Hunter is going to earn his money with Khan as I don't see any easy solutions that can be applied at this stage of his career.

Khan is an offensive fighter, trying to change him into a thinking tactical fighter is like asking Messi to play centre half, from what ie seen Roach had him much leaner and sharper in his attack. Khan can't sit down on shots he lacks the belief as he knows if he gets caught he ends up in trouble, he doesn't have world class punching power.

Conclusion Amir will always beat B level fighters , however the top guys at 140 will hardly be quaking in their boots.

Cheers Rodders

Maidana, Peterson, the prescott knockout, Garcia and now Diaz. These fights have shortned Khan's career at the top level. He looks shot to me. Taken too much punishment too often. Exciting talent but he gets knocked out again soon.

Garcia or Matthysse would definitely KO him. Peterson might

It would be tough watching against Matthysse.

Brutal.

Seanusarrilius wrote:Maidana, Peterson, the prescott knockout, Garcia and now Diaz. These fights have shortned Khan's career at the top level. He looks shot to me. Taken too much punishment too often. Exciting talent but he gets knocked out again soon.

Garcia or Matthysse would definitely KO him. Peterson might

I always thought folk hand the tendancy to undersell him Sean after the Garcia fight (it was a cracking left hook) but last night it was the worst he looked, he didn't shift Diaz once , I'd like to see him fight Maidana again , see what's actually left.

Cheers rodders

Rodney wrote:

Seanusarrilius wrote:Maidana, Peterson, the prescott knockout, Garcia and now Diaz. These fights have shortned Khan's career at the top level. He looks shot to me. Taken too much punishment too often. Exciting talent but he gets knocked out again soon.

Garcia or Matthysse would definitely KO him. Peterson might

I always thought folk hand the tendancy to undersell him Sean after the Garcia fight (it was a cracking left hook) but last night it was the worst he looked, he didn't shift Diaz once , I'd like to see him fight Maidana again , see what's actually left.

Cheers rodders

I think Maidana KO's him in that. Khan is really struggling against fighter like Diaz. All this tells me is a world level fighter, even one who can be as crude as Maidana, is going to be able to get to him. Seems broken. Very short prime for Khan due to the shots he eats.

Khan looked really awful last night, I was impressed that when he got tagged he didn't stick his arms up in the air and kept his composure but he made so many mistakes.

As many have pointed out he still drops the right hand when he throws the left and he made the critical error of trying to throw hooks with a puncher who specialises in them.

Its really sad to say at his young age, but the brutal shots and KO's he has had have taken a massive toll on him.

according to last night he isn't going to fight again till november, i think he needs to be in the ring quicker than that- get his confidence back a little.

eddyfightfan wrote:according to last night he isn't going to fight again till november, i think he needs to be in the ring quicker than that- get his confidence back a little.

He's about to get married and then has a period of fasting so that's why he won't be fighting.

Ramadan gets in the way of a potential summer fight I think Eddy.

I don't see Goldenboy protecting Khan the way a Warren did.

Goldenboy will try to maximise the earning they can get out of Khan and that means he will be in with a decent name next. They won't care if there's only a couple of more fights for Khan before they discard him.

7 months for a wedding and a few weeks fasting? i'd want him to fight another time before taking the peterson fight if i was promoting him. he looks like his improvements are been negated by the fact that none of his opponents worry about his power, and think they can put him down any time.

It seems to me that there is no point trying to sculpt Khan into a defensive boxer, if anything he's been getting worse. In retrospect it looks like Roach had the right idea. Accentuate his offense, and try to get him to fight behind a high guard.
And after that just accept the fact that sometimes he'll get caught and lose. But that for the most part he'll win every round that he doesn't get caught in.

I dont really think much has changed at all with Khan. Hes always suffered from a vulnerability in terms of durability regardless of who trained him.

The changing of trainers, maybe it was a worth try, but at the same time I think it was too easy to lay blame on Roach. I often heard Roachs advice from the corner in Khans fight and felt it was sound. He would often say things like "you gotta watch yourself in these exchanges, you can stand in front of this guy" so I dont think Khan was being taught to fight in the reckless manner that he sometimes did.

I think the Diaz fight showed to some etent a fighter who was trying to fight in a manner that was new or not particularly natural to him and as a result he wasnt comfortable. Alot of boxing is instinctive and if a fighter is spending too much time in the ring thinking then it can cause problems. I felt Khan was spending so much time trying to box in a certain way that it was blunting some of his natural instinct. Maybe he needs more time, or maybe he is just a fighter that cant really adjust regardless of who trains him. Its hard to train for things like getting buzzed, or being on shaky legs trying to survive. I also think if Hunter spends too much time trying to turn him into a defensively good fighter he might end up losing what makes Khan successful in the first place which a blistering offence that can overwhelm opponents.

It has to be said Amir isn't too clever which doesn't help in term of following instructions.

I also think the Roach's high volume style of fighting is difficult to maintain as the years go by. Manny got away with it but Khan just couldn't take the shots Pac can. With the very tough fights Khan has gone through it will be difficult to turn back the clock to the fresh hyper fast fighter he was only a few years ago.

He should ditch Conte in my view. Maybe Ariza is the option.

Fail to see how Khan can still be touted as the ultimate prize in this upcoming LWW tournament. He's been beaten by two of them already (irrespective of Petersen's drug issues, Khan still didn't know how to defend himself from shots) and if GBP think Khan is the guy to derail Floyd then there's someone needs to ask Oscar if he's still on the Colombian marching powder himself.

Best thing for Khan is to ask Audley if he can borrow his drawing board, ditch the high "playa" life style, sell the bling and get back to training like a contender instead of a Champion.

People talk about Khan being flat footed but that would suggest he has his feet on the ground and this weekend's performance suggests the opposite. Time for a radical rethink or pack it in before he's badly hurt.

Hope he falls out of love with boxing and quickly.

He always seems like a nice lad to me but every punch that catches him seems to catch him flush.

Really think he has scaled the heights and already been a two weight world champion which is a very good achievement for any boxer, just can't see him improving on that.

Worry that he'll end up hurt if he carries on, unfortunately it seems to be his love of boxing that will see him fighting more. This is obviously something we would like with our boxers but it just looks to me like his career will end in tears.

See him getting seriously hurt in the near future

If he stays a LWW then he will have to come agaisnt one of Garcia, Lucas or Peterson and all of them will land hard shots in him and he doesn't have the power to keep them off. If he goes to WW (which i have never understood as he isn't a huge LWW and doenst have a lot of power) he will find himself agaisnt even bigger punchers like Ortiz, Berto, Broner, Maidana etc

It's a rocky road for Khan atm and it seems like his prime has came and gone already

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:See him getting seriously hurt in the near future

If he stays a LWW then he will have to come agaisnt one of Garcia, Lucas or Peterson and all of them will land hard shots in him and he doesn't have the power to keep them off. If he goes to WW (which i have never understood as he isn't a huge LWW and doenst have a lot of power) he will find himself agaisnt even bigger punchers like Ortiz, Berto, Broner, Maidana etc

It's a rocky road for Khan atm and it seems like his prime has came and gone already

He fought Peterson and beat him in most people's eyes taking some good shots in the process. Beat Maidana and took a huge shot in that fight. One that would probably have KO'd many other fighters.

Is Broner that big a puncher? Berto is wide open to get hit and Khan will hit him.

Khan isn't that chinny. His temple and neck is another matter.

With Broner tackling Paulie in June, I do wonder if GBP are positioning Khan into to a money spinner v Broner in Dec.

Cant see Garcia fighting twice again this year considering he'll have to fight the winner of Mays clash then potentially Khan in Dec.

Think Super mooted this fight a while back, not one I considered but now a possibility, wise move or not ?

Cheers Rodders

Broner beats Khan badly...Broner hits pretty hard but more importantly, he's quick. It's the one's you don't see that do the most damage and whilst I can't abide Broner, I'd have to make him a favourite against Khan and certainly in this current incarnation.

Yeah tend to agree Dave, watchable fight tho , maybes after Sat show, GBP might wanna cash in on Khan. No lose situation Broner smacks around GBP can sell him as the next best thing against a decent sized name in the US, Khan beats him then all of a sudden he's Floyds nemesis and big clash in 2014.

See easy this promotional lark.

Cheers Rodders

It is a real potential match up when you look at how both are being positioned Rodney....one which probably hadn't been thought of by many 12 months ago..

You do worry that given Broner's so far impressive power, Khan could have his lights turned out much like the Prescott fight...

However I have perhaps stumbled upon something whilst looking through Khans career over the past day,

He has always been troubled by fighters who either match his height or are taller than him. Garcia was the same height as him..Prescott was taller than him...we know what happened on both occasions. Julio Diaz put him on his backside and was taller than him.

When you look at some of the smaller guys he has faced he seems to handle them with relative ease. Judah was taken out in 5...Molina dispatched in a bit of a clinic...Kotelnik kept at bay throughout...Maidana, ok it was close but I still gave it to Khan by 2 and thought he was much the better fighter...and I will include Peterson despite it being a loss on his record I had him winning by 2.

Obviously Broner is a different kettle of fish but given he has yet to be tested by someone taller who can also match his sheer size you never know.

There could be absolutely nothing in what I have said of course and it could very well just be coincidence that Khan's best & worst performances seem to be related to size...but maybe a little food for thought.

What about Gomez and Limond?

Only a matter of time before someone brought those up, knew I should have included them in my original post. In my opinion DAVE667 I wouldn't put those knockdowns in line with what he has suffered against the likes of Prescott or Garcia...in fact he was hurt considerably more by Maidana & Peterson but didn't go down.

They were very early on in his career and Khan recovered extremely quickly from them. Gomez was a short sharp punch after a break and Khan still had his senses and Limond was a flash knockdown.