Roach Sees Khan as Number Ten In the Pound for Pound List
July 28th, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid:Trainer Freddie Roach seems to be losing his ability to judge boxing talent. Not only does he see WBA light welterweight champion as one of the future stars in boxing on par with Floyd Mayweather Jr., but Roach is already ranking the 22-year-old Khan at number #10 in the pound-for-pound list. This has got to be the worst selection of a pound for pound fighter I’ve ever seen. Khan seems like a nice guy, but he doesn’t belong anywhere close to any pound for pound list based on a handful of wins over B-level fighters.
All this based on a win over a paper champion Andriy Kotelnik with zero power. Roach needs to step back and clear his head for a minute, because there’s nothing in Khan’s recent wins that suggest that he’s anything that what he’s been in the past. In other words, a glass jawed fighter who can beat the weak-punchers but who has major problems with he’s pitted with a slugger. Breidis Prescott destroyed Khan last year in one devastating round. Has Khan given Prescott a rematch?
The answer is a big no, and it will stay that way for a long time to come. Heck, I don’t ever expect Khan to be put in with Prescott again in this lifetime. No, Roach’s idea of big wins is ones over Marco Antonio Barrera by way of 5th round technical decision based on a head butt.
Never mind that the 35-year-old Barrera was three to five years past his prime and was fighting two divisions above his former prime fighting weight. The point was Khan won the fight, so we should bow down and crown him as the next big thing. Who cares if Khan didn’t answer any of the questions about his brittle chin by facing the undersized, over the hill Barrera?
The point is Khan won. The win proved zero other than that Khan can beat a handpicked opponent. The same goes for Khan’s victory over Kotelnik, who Khan already said himself is the worst of the light welterweight champions. Great pick, Amir! Instead of going after WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, Khan opts to fight the easy mark without power or the skills and speed of Bradley.
I don’t care how young Khan is, I don’t see him ever maturing to the point where he can beat a fighter like Bradley, Kendall Holt, Victor Ortiz and especially Prescott and Marcos Maidana. That’s why I think Roach’s recent success with his fight predictions are going to his head. Come on, anyone could pick Manny Pacquiao over a weight drained, shot Oscar De La Hoya and a partied out Ricky Hatton.
That didn’t take any great prediction skills. That’s just common sense. You can just look at the fact that De La Hoya had lost three out of his last six fights with one of victories being a gift decision over Felix Sturm and the other two wins coming against Steve Forbes and Ricardo Mayora, and see that he was going to have problems. Hatton was a shell of himself after being beaten by Mayweather in 2007.
Hatton never did prove himself capable of beating a top level fighter in his career with his best wins – Luis Collazo and Kostya Tszyu – being controversial because of the wrestling, fouling and holding that Hatton did in the fight. I think Roach is going to be in for a big shock when they finally put Khan in with a slugger like Maidana.
However, despite rumors about Khan possibly fighting Maidana in the near future, I don’t believe it for a second. I’ll grow old waiting for that fight to happen and I can’t see it ever materializing. I see Khan vacating rather than fighting Maidana and getting stretched again. If Khan ever does fight him, he’ll have his track shoes on and will be sprinting from the word go in an effort to protect his glass jaw from Maidana’s huge shots.
Let me do my own Nostradamus impression. I see Khan running around the ring nonstop, grabbing Maidana in a tight clinch whenever he gets near him. The entire fight will be one big stall for time. Khan would be the worst example of a spoiler there ever was if that fight happens.
I still see him getting destroyed because even with all those tactics, Khan will still end up getting nailed two or three times per round by Maidana and it probably won’t take more than a couple of hard shots to Khan’s china chin to knock him out again.
Tags: 33 Responses to “Roach Sees Khan as Number Ten In the Pound for Pound List”
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AND ASS FOR YOU PRINCE NAZ MY SURNAME IS BOATENG WORK IT OUT F..K NUTS YOU DONT JUST HAVE TO BE BNP TO THINK KHAN IS SH.T AND IT MAKES ME LAUGH EVERY TIME I WATCH KHAN GET SPARKED OUT IN ONE MINUTE OF THE FIRST ROUND BY A FIGHTER NOT EVAN RANKED INSIDE THE LIGHTWEIGHT TOP 100 AT THE TIME AT LEAST KHAN DONE A BETTER JOB COMING BACK FROM DEFEAT THAN PRINCE NAZ
PS
KHAN WILL DO WELL TILL HE RUNS INTO A PUNCHER
pundit do your homework cos if you did you will no that all the fighters that i listed have all won titles at young ages against top fighters
edwin valearo 23.
miggul cotto 23.
manny pac 19.
shane molsly 21.
and the point i was making about thaxton and murray is he [khan] didnt fight the competitive fights at domestic levle if you want to look at a fighter taking the proper schooling into the art of boxing is KEVIN MITCHEL.
What is Roach on i’ll have some Khan needs to prove himself.Rematch with presscott
Prince naz – I ain’t bowin down to no hack, jackhole!
Being a complete tool, not ‘too’
Very sad comment form Prince Naz implying that if you’re British and don’t like Khan you are a racist member of the BNP. People don’t like him because he is overhyped, arrogant and incredibly stupid and ungracious.
I don’t like the music of P Diddy, does that make me a racist too because he’s black?!
Myself and my girlfriend recently went to an Italian restaurant and found the food below average. Does this mean I am a racist that hates Italians?
Get a grip. Race his nothing to do with it. Being a complete too, however, has everything to do with it.
pundit can u pull your head out of your arse .if you belive khan will ever be a pound for pound top ten can you not see that khan was put in thear with the weekest link of champions in the three weights divisions khan could be put in .can you realy see khan beating the likes of nate camble timothy bradley juan urango.lets look at welterweights shane mosley miguel cotto paul williams andre berto joshua clottey the list goes on you only got to arsk why didnt khan go for a british title because it would mean fighting john murray and would put him on thaxton’s raidar lets not forget khan got hert by willie limond
i think u will find witter turnd down a fight with khan earlyar this year because why would he fight khan wen he’s after another title shot wat would witter gain by fighting khan if he won he wouldnt be any closer to a title and if he got beat he would probaly not get another title shot again in his career .anyway lets not kid ourselves khan went up a division becouse he would never win a title at lightweight not with the curent crop of fighters in that division.edwin valero michael kasidis joan guzman
joel casamayor juan diz ali funeka and last but not least juan manuel marquez
Am A BRIT and he is not even in top 30 he as fought no big names.
Like all British sportsmen, Khan is hyped up beyond all belief. In Britain the gutter press (ie The Sun, The Mirror, Daily Mail etc)and their ignorant, blinkered readers grasp onto any mediocre team or sporting figure they can, and heap hugely unrealistic expectations on them.
Look at the England football team, who if you believe what you read on the hysterical back pages of the Sun, or in the loathsome bigotry peddled in the Daily Mail, are going to win every tournament they enter. Their views are of course in complete contradiction to the sad truth, which is that the team has been full of limited, overrated duds for decades now, who will never achieve anything of note in a sporting sense.
It was much the same with the woeful Tim Henman who were told was going to win Wimbledon every year, despite his complete lack of genuine world class ability.
There are many more examples of this arrogant mentality, of which Khan is just the latest. The fact is, he is just about competent; he is not and never will be world class. He was badly hurt by Willie Limond and was down for 13 seconds, with the referee conveniently giving a slow count. He was knocked down by an ancient, faded Michael Gomez. He was brutally put to sleep by Prescott. There are also many persistent rumours that when he beat Kindlean to ‘revenge’ his loss in the Olympics, the fight was fixed.
As soon as somebody hits him on the chin with any force, he will be knocked unconscious. That is a simple and unrefutable fact.
Then us Brits will have to put up with some other no-hoper being hyped up to be a world beater. The tragic thing is, the genuine stars we have are viewed with dislike and we do everything we can to bring them down.
That’s right, it’s another edition of Scott knows better than world renowned trainer Freddie Roach! Haha
Nice one Scott, just keep giving us a laugh with these articles little man!
You are such a moron. You have absolutely no boxing knowledge whatsoever. Just ridiculous.
Breidis Prescott has just been beaten while Khan is a world champion after beating the world champion.
It must eat you up Scott that all these brits you keep putting down and ‘telling’ us will lose just keep on winning!
top ten no way. when i heared about fighting eric i cringed if he is top ten put him in withsomeone half descent. and if he is top ten where is prescott cause he would still knock kahn out with 1 punch
WHAT?? Hello? Scott?? “Come on, anyone could pick Manny Pacquiao over a weight drained, shot Oscar De La Hoya and a partied out Ricky Hatton”.. the hell you talking about.. most boxing experts weren’t giving Pacquiao a chance againts ODLH.. and most said Hatton will kill Pacquiao.. now that he won.. suddenly you became geniuses.. Pacquaio beat them.. no excuses please..
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For all Gilfoid haters out there!!!!!!!!
Khan maybe top ten lightwelter weight but not top ten p4p , i think roach needs to re look at his comments
khan is in the top 10
I reckon he just gettin his man some publicity,thats all.In reality,he’s a great trainer and he must know the score with khan,hence his knew tactics of covering up quick and throwing straight shots only
As trainer of Khan it is understandable why Roach put Khan at no.10 just to boost Khan’s spirit,he is still a project of Roach being build slowly,do you think Roach is serious that Khan at no.10,I doubt it.
Sorry Lightwelter division.
Not a chance. The top 10 P4P list is completely opinion based and Roach knows his stuff but ive gotta disagree with his opinion.
Hes yet to fight anybody that we could use to gauge his potenial. Barrera wasnt THE Barrera, just a shadow and Kotelnik had way to many frailties to count.
His new style is protecting his chin but its taken a hell of alot of his game away, Hes got power but he cant use it cuz his fists have gotta go back to his chin, he cant wind anytihng up cuz of it.
All he did against Barrera, and all he did against Kotelnik was throw a straight flurry when they moved in, and throw another to nail the points for the round. No real power and nothing different.
Hows that system guna do against fast, clever and hard hitting Welters which is what lies above Kotelnik. Dont forget Khan STILL got hit.
Im not convinced he can even live at the top end of the Welter division let alone being among the P4P fighters of the whole sport.
Generally Scott Gilfoid is known to write very biased articles when it comes to British fighters and on most occasions the guy IMO is full of sh*t. However this is now the second article that I whole heartedly agree with……….what’s going on Scott….your’e letting yourself down LOL!
The only thing I dispute is the statement “Hatton never did prove himself capable of beating a top level fighter in his career” ? his best win against Kostya Tszyu may not have been pretty but that was Hattons style he was never/will never be a slick silky boxer and to stop Kostya Tszyu was a fantastic achievement and something Kahn will NEVER emulate!
As for Kahn Scott Gilfoid is 100% right!……sad to say……but very true. Kahn’s record is full of B list pumped up SFW’s, one OLD SHOT LEGEND in Barrera who as Scott said was well past his prime and fighting 2 divisions up from his prime weight! and one embarrassing KO defeat to the only true light weight of any reasonable merit he has fought! He was then GIFTED an undeserved shot at Kotelnik who in Kahn’s own words was the weakest world champion and his easiest route to a world title! Anyone who believes that Kahn’s performance against Kotelnik was stellar is well and truly mistaken. Kotelnik was tailor made for Kahn a typical eastern European fighter, upright with a sound technique but very slow and with very little power! Perfect for a hit and run job!
As for defending against Maidana…not a chance! Roach has already come out in the British press and said he will NOT put Kahn in with him and would rather vacate and fight a SHOT Morales! Shows the amount of confidence they really have in Kahn!
It really saddens me to say this but Kahn’s hype is an emabarresment to British boxing and makes it very difficult for the likes of up and coming young stars such as Kell Brook to get any credit…well at least he’s going about his business the right way in cleaning up domestically, winning the Lonsdale outright and then trying to move on to better things…..not by passing the whole British scene to be gifted a title shot. Top 10 P4P list my arse! the kid is not even in the top 50! Roach as good a trainer as he is has finally lost it!
what does imo mean?
roach is just hyping up is new up an comer ,he cant possibly believe khan is in the top 10 pfp yet,hes just said it to get more attention,and get khan in the spotlight ,ie,bigger fights in the states,,,khans definatly got the potential but lets see how he handles the likes of maidaina bradley torrez ortiz,,if he beats these guys,which i think with roach behind him is very good possibility then alot of people are gonna be eaten there hats,,
Khan isnt top 10 pound for pound but hopfully in a few years he will be.
i agree he shouldnt be top 10 but its roach’s IMO – no one said oscar and ricky were shot or weight drained before the fight so they should shut the f up – as for khan , this article is straight hating, kids only 22
khan beat valero areu pis*ed or something ben u really know f**k all he as been ducking murray for years
What’s everyone going to say if the proposed bout with Maidana goes ahead and Khan beats him?
I guess maidana will be over-rated and crap then :rolleyes:
not a top 10 fighter in my eyes. even though i think his game is far more accomplished under Freddie Roach, I still think he’s got a long way to go.
But probably ready for America, and can see him fighting against a Zab Judah or Joshua Clottey.
get youre point with the article khan no where near top 10 and must at least beat 2 out of maidana, cambell, bradley, hatton, torres, holt and ortiz just to considered around that area.
Spot on, he’s just an over-rated hype machine.
He is quite a talented lad but in the pound for pound top 10, not a chance, he would barely squeeze into a top 50.
i look forward to the day he gets put on his arse again and all the hype goes away hopefully.
I think we have a lot to see from AK yet, personally i think he should get Salita out of the way on an undercard in the states or in UK. Then possibly a unification bout with Witter if he pulls his fight off. I dn’t believe a word says about beatin khan! I think Amir would win that fight. After that there’s Victor Ortiz and Maidana.. few good fights there and some tough ones aswell. In the future, Pauli, Holt, Baby bull, Prescott rematch, Urango, Campbell, Bradley. Some great fights lie ahead…
Khan is talented but pound for ppound top ten?
Bradley
Hatton
Witter
Holt
Urango
He dosnt make top 5 in his division and didnt make top ten in the lightweights
I agree with this article in that Khan right now is prospect. He may be a prospect with extraordinarily quick hands (and a questionable chin), but at the end of the day it’s far too early to put him that high on the p4p list. I would like to see him fight some big names – and by that I don’t mean an old Barrera.
Personally, I wouldn’t pick Khan to win against Maidana. In fact I would be surprised if Khan even stepped to that challenge. Having said that though, Khan would earn a lot of my respect if he could pull off that win.