By Chris Williams: Since losing to Breidis Prescott (20-0, 18 KOs) by a 1st round TKO in September, lightweight contender Amir Khan (19-1, 15 KOs) has taken a tremendous amount of heat from boxing fans, a lot of whom have given up on him, seeing him as too fragile-chinned to become a champion in the lightweight division. Khan, 22, though, still has designs on avenging his defeat to Prescott, saying to The Sun “the fight will happen in the future again… and I will beat him technically and with my brains this time.”
Brains are obviously what Khan is going to need to use next time out, because he doesn’t appear to have a good enough chin to take the offensive firepower that the 25-year-old Prescott will be dishing out against him.
Whether Khan does is serious about fighting Prescott again or not, he probably won’t erase the stench of his 1st round TKO to him until he takes him on, faces his demons and defeats him in battle. Failing that, I see the stigma of this loss lasting for years and sticking to Khan like glue, no matter who he fights. Khan, if he’s to fight him again, he needs to make the move as soon as possible to limit the fallout from this terrible loss.
While I think his handlers are probably hesitant about wanting to put him back in there with Prescott, I think they would be helping his confidence by putting him back in there with Prescott. The longer they wait to have him fight a rematch with Prescott, the longer I see it taking for Khan to get beyond this defeat.
Believe me, this isn’t the kind of loss that can easily be ignored, and I think it’s got to be bothering Khan on a daily basis. However, if he at least goes out there are faces Prescott again, he’ll feel a sense of relief to be given the chance at avenging the loss.
That’s not to say that I think Khan will necessarily win the fight, because he’ll have to be very cautious to avoid getting hit with a big punch. But with that said, I can see Khan winning this fight without too many problems if he can stay on the move, using his jab for a full 12-rounds and not getting drawn into any wars with Prescott.
The unavoidable reality is, Khan would probably stand zero chance of beating Prescott if he makes the mistake of trying to trade shots with him like last time. I think Khan’s chin isn’t up to taking big left hook from the Colombian fighter without getting hurt and being dropped for the 10-count.
Last time out, Khan rushed out quickly and was promptly staggered by a hard jab from Prescott in the opening seconds of the fight. Khan stood his ground despite having rubbery legs, and was met with a huge left hook by Prescott that further staggered Khan.
Prescott then landed a hard right hand and then another left hook that sent Khan down. He bravely got to his feet, but after taking a some hard rights and left hands, Khan went down for the second time in the round. This time, Khan was too hurt to continue, and staggered to his feet only to see the fight stopped by the referee.
Recently, Khan defeated Oisin Fagan, a decent fighter with little speed or power, in a 2nd round TKO on December 6th. Khan looked impressive, but fought pretty much as he’s fought most of his career, slugging it out. Khan used his jab well in the first round, but then quickly abandoned that in the 2nd as he attacked Fagan with power shots.
That’s how I figured Khan would fight. Making changes are very difficult for fighters, who say that they’ll fight a particular way, but often go right back to their old style of fighting within a round or two. Hopefully, Khan doesn’t make this mistake in a rematch with Prescott, because the outcome would be similar to the first fight if Khan chooses to engage him like this. I think Khan has the ability to defeat Prescott by a decision, but he’ll have to stay 100% on focus, otherwise he stands no chance against him.
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