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Amir Khan: Ditch The Wild Card & Hire Manny Steward To Save Your Career
On Saturday Khan looked like a fighter who is still unaware that his strengths are speed rather than slugging. At 25, he's at a vital crossroads and if he makes the wrong decisions his career, and health, are on the line...
In the wake of a brutal 4th round stoppage at the hands of Philadelphia’s Danny Garcia. Many people are questioning where Amir ‘King’ Khan goes from here.
Even in an era where so much emphases is placed on the ’0′. There are still routes back from defeat. Lennox Lewis was KOd twice, yet he still went on to have a great career avenging both losses along the way.
Comebacks happen, but in Amir’s case it’s a long, long way back.
Very early on in his career questions have been asked of Khan’s punch resistance, his defence, & the strength of his chin. (Three vital commodities in boxing.)
He was dropped by light punchers Willie Limond & Michael Gomez. Knocked out cold by Bredis Prescott. Rocked to his boots by Marcos Maidana, & now KOd by Danny Garcia.
Having an average chin isn’t the be all & end all in boxing. With clever match making, a sound defence & good tactics. You can overcome the issues of a suspect set of whiskers. Just ask Wladamir Klitshko & Roy Jones Jnr. A fighter like Wladamir understands his vulnerabilities so he’s tailored his offence to negate them. Khan on the other hand is the complete opposite.
Amir hasn’t made any significant improvements under Roach
At 25 years old he is still young, but if he doesn’t have a grasp of his strengths & weaknesses now. Will he ever?
Team Khan can preach all they want to about the brilliance of trainer Freddie Roach & his famous Wild Card gym. Quite frankly the Wild Card is part of the problem. Amir hasn’t made any significant improvements under Roach.
*He still can’t fight on the inside.
*He still leaves his chin hanging out during an exchange.
*His survival instincts when hurt are still appalling.
*He still can’t follow instructions (Before the Garcia fight, his trainer Freddie Roach said. “2,3, maximum 4 punch combinations. Get in, get out, don’t engage.”)
The gym wars can’t be helping either. The Wild Card is famous for its no holds barred sparring, yet when footage aired on Sky Sports Ringside this week, alarms bells were ringing.
Albeit wearing 16oz gloves & a head guard, Khan was engaged in a full on slug fest. Shipping left hooks, right hands, uppercuts, he looked terrible, wide open to counters.
You can’t just walk forward with your chin in the air throwing 4 & 5 punch combinations
Although Freddie Roach wasn’t in attendance, his new strength & conditioning coach Ruben Tabares was telling him: “Don’t get involved in a war, box this guy” – What did Khan do next? Strait back out in the centre of the ring, BANG! He just doesn’t listen.
His all action style & desire to please the fans is commendable. But he’s putting his long term health on the line if he continues down the path he is headed.
His power is respectable but certainly not devastating at world-class level. The main weapon in his arsenal is speed. Yet he doesn’t utilise it correctly. You can’t just walk forward with your chin in the air throwing 4 & 5 punch combinations without any thought to what’s coming back at you.
Where does Khan go from here? Who knows?
His ego (& his team) is so rampant I doubt they’d be willing to accept undercard slots.
A move up to welterweight is inevitable, & although Khan has the frame to fight at 147. He will carry his technical & physical deficiencies up with him. Whilst he won’t burden his body as much making the weight, the punching power & nous of the top guys will be too much for Khan to handle.
He will never be Golden Boy’s cash cow, so they’ll continue to match him hard which is a worry for his health. (Say what you like about Frank Warren, he knows how & when to protect his clients.)
Khan has lost his last 2 fights, and during both build-ups he talked just as much about Floyd as he did his actual opponents
There’s fights out there, but not at the elite P4P level where Amir Khan believes he belongs. The much discussed Mayweather fight is firmly off the table now. Khan has lost his last 2 fights, and during both build-ups he talked just as much about Floyd as he did his actual opponents.
People are already talking about Victor Ortiz which bad news for Amir. A cracking fight for the fans yes, but big Vic is way to powerful & physically imposing for Amir Khan.
There are other options:
Recently crowned WBA champion Paulie Malignaggi (Who Khan beat in 2010) is viable. As is the exciting Robert Guerrero. There’s faded Mexican legend Erik Morales & potentially a rematch against Marcos Maidana.
Continuing with head trainer Freddie Roach (& the Manny Pacquiao circus) needs to be given serious consideration. A trainer with a safety comes first approach like Manny Steward might be a better fit.
The hangers on, back slappers & leaches need to be moved on. Which is pretty much his entire management team. And he might want to think about rehiring strength & conditioning coach Alex Ariza. Quite why team Khan fired, rehired & then fired him again is bizarre. His best work has always come with Ariza in his corner.
He can still have a good career, but he needs to make major changes before he gets seriously hurt. (And stop chasing that mythical P4P title that finished Ricky Hatton.) He’s made his millions, he’s a wealthy young man. Nassem Hamed retired at 27. It’s not unconceivable that Amir might do the same.
It’s a very long road back for Amir & it won’t be easy. His desire & commitment cannot be questioned, but the fighter he craves to be should be.
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COMMENTS
Looked comfortable up until that punch and gave him a nasty cut if he would have stuck to game plan i think would have won comfortably but seems he cannot learn from same mistakes
He seens to want to prove he can take a punch. He needs to try to be more like the best fighter Pretty Boy Floyd. All I ever hear from Amir is that he's the best and that MMW is running scared. You either the best like Money Mayweather or you are a wanna be like The Pac man and Amir. Amir does not even have a nickname. How boring.
Both Maidana and Garcia can bang, so being rocked by them isn't as shocking as it is made to appear here, though being shaken by a known non-puncher like Limond was worrying. However, that was before he started working with Ariza, who I agree was a major component of his subsequent success. They did less upper body work to balance him out a bit and increased his leg strength and that made him much more solid, like the Prince, who had massive thighs.
What an actual load of tripe! When Amir went to the Wild Card he had just been spanked by Prescott. An average club fighter, who has been dining off that one win for ages. Since then Roach has worked tirelessly with Khan and brought out the best of him to world honours. Only fan-boys outside boxing wouldn't recognise this. Khan's weakness first and formost is that he believes his own hype, and as a result can't take instruction....He's changed his coach 3 times along with strength n conditioner coach. Obviously 'Team Khan' know best eh?
Kingstonbear In response to your comment, Freddie Roach does not work exclusivley with Amir Khan. Have you forgotten Manny Pacquiao and Chavez Jnr? Amir has been made to travel all round the world to compensate for Roach's work with Manny & Chavez. Freddie Roach is not an offensive coach, hasnt been for years. During camp, Pacquiao reserve strength & conditioning coach was doing mitt with Khan. Hardly ideal preparation?
Defensive, not offensive!
There is no point fighting Mallinagi, no one respects him and it's a trciky fight with no real advancement to be made with a victory. Ortiz would be a good fight, he is stronger and tougher, but he has a reputation for bailing when things get tough. I think he should move up to 147 now and get some low-level fights and try and establish himself in that weightclass, fight people like Luis Abregu and Joel Casamayor, and concern himself with looking to fight people like Timothy Bradley and Saul Avarez rather than Pac/Mayweather
he wants to prove he can take a punch ? he cant, trouble with this guy is he thinks he is better than he is, but when put in with a big hiter , the same result , he ends up on the canvas. i think he needs to step back and have a rethink,at this stage he should avoid pac/mayweather, because that could just end his days in boxing. k your spot on , move up to 147 and stay out of there way.
Malignaggi is the WBA champ so he has something of value. He's not a big hitter which is another bonus for team Khan. I reckon he might fight Lopez. (Once Canelo has finished battering him that is)
Amir is a flawed fighter but a phenomenally exciting and entertaining boxer. His hand speed is impressive, his punching power respectable. Most K.O.s come from combinations. Not every fighter has the power of a Julian Jackson, which is what sets fighters like Jackson apart in the first place. His boxing brain is sound, he has, in my opinion, improved immeasurably since moving to the States. His chin is, was and ever shall be, poor. Amir is a flawed fighter. Saturday’s fight exposed his weakness in it’s most painful, cruel and brutal form. My view, having watched the fight several times now, is almost the polar opposite of the writer’s above. I thought Amir was fighting a good fight, following a game plan and was exceedingly unlucky to fall foul of a left hook thrown blindly, not even hopefully, by a fighter taking punishment and relying more on instinct than thought. I didn’t see Amir leading with his chin. I saw Amir let punches go in good combinations, hurtful punches, get in, get out and not get tied up in any infighting. You say he still can’t fight on the inside. True but I don’t see him trying either. I see him spoiling, tying opponents up, getting grief from the ref, but getting out intact. The facts of the fight are he fought a good all-round boxer, someone who beat an aging but ever dangerous ring great in Moralles to win a title but someone who’s destiny is to be a footnote in boxing’s history. It wasn’t an upset because Amir is always prone to that one wild shot, that haymaker that gets through. Amir’s guard isn’t suspect, his game plan isn’t suspect, his execution isn’t suspect, his chin is suspect. It doesn’t matter who he trains with or how cautious his approach the facts of boxing are while you’re hitting someone they’re trying to hit you. Once in a while a good punch gets through. Amir can’t take a good punch. The one that did most of the damage, the one he never recovered from, wasn’t even a clean shot, it landed hallways on his neck. If it had have been clean it was goodnight there and then. That’s what makes Amir exciting, that’s what makes him the one I will pay to see. He lays it on the line every time he gets in the ring (with the exception of fighting Paulie Mallignaggi), he doesn’t short change the fans. He has a future in boxing if he wants one. The best fight out there for Garcia right now is a rematch. He should make it, take the money. I wouldn’t bet against Amir fighting anybody but he will always be one punch away from defeat. Ask yourself this; would you step into the ring knowing that? Amir has balls bigger than King Kong.
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