Breakdown of Salita vs. Khan

by Daniel Ciminera: As I see it, this fight serves to highlight the different types of fighters Europe, especially the UK, and America are breeding at the moment. This delivers some good news for Europe.

I wont go off on a tangent, but Khan is a European style fighter, he’s fast, aggressive, and can punch with power. Salita on the other hand, seems to be another young fighter produced in the gyms of the USA, who is technically brilliant and has good accuracy and work rate.

However, he doesn’t punch with any real power, and as such, wont bother Khan, and probably wont progress to become a world champion. Especially in the very competitive and powerful light-welterweight category.

This trait of skill above power is plaguing American boxers, to point out a couple other than Salita, look at Paulie Malignaggi, or Andre Dirrell. Both are exceptionally good boxers, and are good to watch when they get their way. But, without the power to back opponents up and finish them off, they don’t have what it takes to rule the divisions they belong to.

Salita may spar well in the gym with names like Zab Judah, but there is a big difference between a gym boxer and a fighter. Something Salita should have learned from sparring is not to crouch so much when moving forward or when under attack. He leaves himself completely open to uppercuts. What’s more is despite the quality of Salita’s sparring partners, he remains very easy to hit. Something Khan will capitalize upon from the first bell.

Khan himself is a very flawed fighter, still very much in the learning stage of his career, but his main weakness is still his chin. Something Salita is simply unable to exploit. I see an early stoppage for Khan resulting from a big uppercut followed by a fast combination of powerful punches.

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