Would it be a shock if Khan is destroyed by his first real good opponent
December 7th, 2009
By Michael Lieberman: I’ve always been rather curious when I see a fighter that is being pumped up by the media and seen as the next big thing. WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) seems to be the latest flavor of the week with his 1st round TKO victory over Dmitriy Salita on December 5th. It wasn’t much of a fight. Salita came out looking both scared and slow on his feet and was promptly dropped by the first combination that Khan threw. No one has ever questioned Khan’s offensive abilities.
The other fighters that have been served up to Khan have been infinitely beatable and no real test of Khan’s talent. But I wouldn’t be the least surprised if Khan is destroyed by the first real threat they put him in with. We’ve already seen what happens to Khan when he faces a good puncher like Prescott. Khan says that he made a mistake against Prescott, that he’d beat him in a rematch. So far, we haven’t seen that rematch and I’m not holding my breath for it to happen.
I think it’s safe to say that Khan will never fight Prescott again. This leaves it to other fighters in the light welterweight division to give us an idea of whether Khan is a glass jawed hype job or a real genuine star. It’s hard to tell what Khan is right now, because he hasn’t exactly jumped all over the lightweight or the light welterweight top rung opposition.
Khan’s supporters point to Khan’s age, saying that he’s only 22, and that he shouldn’t be expected to take on top fighters at his age. Okay, I’ll buy that, but how precisely will Khan be kept away from top fighters when he’s the World Boxing Association light welterweight champion? How does that work out? I mean sooner or later Khan will have to fight a good opponent, right?
He can’t keep pulling Salita out of his back pocket to fight. There’s some real fighters in the light welterweight division that Khan will have to fight sooner or later unless he plans on vacating his title. Marcos Maidana, the WBA interim champion, is one example. I don’t know how long Khan can go by without fighting him, but I see this guy as someone that won’t go away by ignoring him. And I have doubts whether Khan will be better able to take his big shots in the future.
A chin doesn’t get better with age. On the contrary, fighters with weak chins tend to downhill as the age. What happens when Khan has to fight Maidana in a year or possibly two? I don’t know how Khan could get away with avoiding Maidana for that long, but if he somehow is able to, the problem doesn’t get any easier. Khan will still have to have the chin to take Maidana’s big shots. Avoiding him or other big punchers like Prescott or Victor Ortiz won’t make the problem go away. Let’s face it: If Khan doesn’t have the chin for the sport, he’ll last only as long as he can step around and avoid the big punchers in boxing.
Tags: 32 Responses to “Would it be a shock if Khan is destroyed by his first real good opponent”
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Why is Khan getting so much attention on this website? Is every writer obligated to do an article on him? Every time I check this site it’s KHAN KHAN KHAN KHAN and more KHAN! WTF!
Yes FIN it does we have already covered that. Learn to read first. Nob face
So Khan hasn’t fought anyone good except Prescott, and he needs to fight someone good like Maidana. I don’t suppose the fact that he beat Maidana’s only conqueror, Kotelnik, means anything at all then.
There’s no shortage of guys in the 140 lb division that would test Khan’s chin. Holt, Maidana, Ortiz!! Anyone of those guys would deal out a beating for this BoyChick!
Khan will fight a reasonable opponent lined up as a warm up bout for whoever Roach has got in mind for the real thing. My guess is it’ll be Madaina as he’s the weakest of the bunch – slower and less durable than Bradley or Alexander and as far as his boxing and footwork goes he’s average. All he’s got is power. He may have landed against Ortiz, but then Ortiz will probably never fight that sort of fight again now he knows he’s beatable, just like Khan since Prescott. Madaina wouldn’t get near Khan and would be eating a lot of leather in the meantime. Roach will put him in against a durable but older fighter as a warm up to knock Madaina out. At least that’s my guess.
Fans seem in a rush to see him take on the best of the division now but it doesn’t make any sense – his next fight is likely to be on the Pacquiao Mayweather bill, so it really doesn’t matter who they put in front of him provided he does another Salita on them. The casual fan will simply see the knock out and Khan’s next fight will be worth a fortune. As PBF keeps reminding us, its a business first and foremost and much as we the fans might want certain fights, the people that rule the boxing world do it on money.
As usual it seems a lot of the comments are a little short sighted. Roach isn’t and never has been. What’s the point in putting Khan in against the likes of bradley and Alexander now when he can put him in against lesser opposition for a couple of fights, he can blow them away and improve his market value a little more whilst not taking any serious risks in the meantime? Makes perfect sense from a trainers point of view. Khan’s got the biggest advantage on his side and thats time. Fine, it may not be as exciting for the fan base, but why not let him sharpen his tools for a couple of fights before cleaning up the division and moving to welter where the real money is?
oli, maidana might have lost to kotelnik, who then lost to khan, but remember that was a controversial decision in the ukraine and kotelnik has a great chin for a guy like maidana.
any khan-maidana match would be looked at differently, khan could easily outbox maidana, but maidana could easily ko khan. thats what makes that one interesting. khan doesnt have to prove he can take a shot from a guy like that so long as he beats them.
andreas kotelnik was a genuine top 5 ranked lighwelter and salita was a mandatory, give the guy a break!
it’ll either be maidana next, or zab judah or nate campbell or juan diaz if he gets past malignaggi.
any one of those would be the right move for now.
And NO NOT jm marquez…hes showing his age, coming off a bad loss, and is NOT a lightwelterweight.
all i wanna see is khan step up to a fighter of top calibre and standing who isnt too old, too weak, and too slow to make a fight out of it. If he was to do that then critics like me would have no option but to respect him for that.
And no not victor ortiz, when u could fight the guy who Ko’d him…and not maidana because he lost to a guy u easily outboxed. Lets see khan vs holt. Or khan vs alexander, or khan vs bradley or even mallignaggi. By doing that he make me shut my mouth. BUT WILL HE?? i doubt it very much indeed
It’s the fighter that makes the belt what it is e.g If the WBC champion in every division was to fight the WBA champion does that mean that every WBC champion would come out on top? Although i do think that these organisations should push for more unification fights!
Tompo I understand what you are saying but why would these boxers want to fight Khan. ? Surely by winning the WBA belt is a way of then getting the fights at the top, as surely the aim is to unify the belts, like David Haye did at cruiserweight. I also think ,or should i say the managers think that you should make as much money as possible along the way, so all these fighters will have their own agenda or their managers will. I doubt if it would be a case of Oh I will fight him, especially if he is unkown in the USA. I thought the IBF wasn’t very good either. Well in any case Thanks for replying.
I don’t know the probability of it happening, but i’b like to see Ricky Hatton and Khan fight, before Ricky decides to hang up his gloves. If khan’s speed wasn’t too much for him, I think he would definitely test Khan’s chin, plus the atmosphere at this ‘Battle of Britain’ would be fantastic.
STE A i hate to remind you it as already happend
@Andrew Evans “I can’t see how you can become a world champion by avoiding fighting the best in that division.”
Simple. You go for someone weak who happens to be holding one of the weaker belts.
The WBA is currently the weakest title from the big four/five (Ring, WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF), alongside the IBF. By Khan’s own admission, they went for someone in Kotelnik who they felt was the weakest title holder in the Jnr Welterweight division.
Salita was ranked 60th by Boxrec in the Jnr Welterweight division. No idea how he was the WBA’s number one challenger, but then that’s why the WBA isn’t considered anything other than a tin pot organisation.
The real champion in the Light Welterweight is Manny Pacquiao, although he’s now a Welterweight after the Cotto fight. After him, it’s Bradley, who holds the WBO title. Other top boxers in the division include Nate Campbell, Hatton, Alexander, Peterson, Lamont, Diaz, Maidana and Holt. Khan hasn’t fought any of them, so quite clearly you can become a “world champion” without fighting the best in the division (no different to David Haye).
michael ur freaking out about khans chin, salita was thought to have a good chin and look what happened him, if any boxer takes a square punch that has enough power he will go down, it comes with the industry, and at the end of the day khans defence and speed is so good fighters arnt gona get a chance anyway
every fighter is beatable in some way or another
dan dan you know im only joking right well you know F O O K ALL
ashish warrior is jealous because there are no boxers from india hahaha a population of 1 billion and no boxers hahaha wot a joke
KHAN WOULD DESTROY LITTLE JUAN MANUAL MARQUEZ AND RICKY HATTON IN ONE NITE.
khan is not fit enough to suck the sweat from pac mans socks you ppl hes only 22 if this is what u think what about marvin sonosa 19 yrs old world champ he got beat the other week you hear any1 crying about that well he is nearly 4 yrs younger than khan if you have a title at 22 in only 23 fights to me that says you are ready to take on the world did you see how slow jmm was against pbf get khan where he fought most of his fights a lightweight and jmm at lightweight watch him get ktfo are shall we blow him up so he is slow and make khan look great silly silly khan fans you live in a dreamworld
I am interested to know what looking scared looks like because Salita didn’t look scared to me. He “can’t keep pulling Salita out of his back pocket to fight”, what kind of comment is that? A complete and utter biased one. Khan beat the WBA world champion and then the WBA mandatory No1 challenger. If you have a problem with the WBA ,well complain to them. I can’t see how you can become a world champion by avoiding fighting the best in that division. As for Khan’s defence,(spelt with a C in English) it looked pretty good when he won the WBA belt or are you now going to say “he ran all night”. By the way you spelt flavour wrongly also. Let me guess which country you come from or on second thoughts I won’t bother. Happy Christmas if you celebrate it.
Everyone thinks Maidana is some sort of mega puncher because he knocked out that hype job Victor Ortiz. If you look at Maindana’s record his opposition is ranked lower than Khans. His recent opponent was ranked 1330 in the World by boxrec! What type of fight is that for someone ranked in the top 10. Oh yeah he also lost to Kotelnik who Khan soundly beat. Yeah im sure Khan is most hyped fighter in the World when you have Maidana and Ortiz in the same division.
All fighters are steered toward winnable fights except Paul Williams. That guy will run up on anybody… anytime and any weight .
Roach knows how to bring fighters along. He will hand pick Khan’s opponents to ensure he keeps winning, and keeps getting paid. Eventually he will be tested. He is young and inexperienced, so he is entitled to make mistakes and grow as a fighter. Boxing is a rough and brutal sport, anybody can get dropped. Khan gets respect for getting back up and stepping his game up though. All fighters are steered toward fights their handlers believe they can win…unless of course their handlers manage the opponent as well like Cotto against Pacquiao at a “catchweight”
If a chin can’t get stronger, then how come Pacman took Cotto’s shots yet he was KO’d by a fly weight earlier in his career?
And Khan has already blasted Ortiz away…
well we wont know for another 5 years coz thats how long it will be til he fights someone decent
For those of you who say Khan is ‘chinny’, see his fight against Barrera. You haters, just shut up and don’t envy. And yeah, your Salita was so chinny. We saw it.
No it wouldnt be a shock at all…because hes alreay been KO’d once in the 1st and he not fought anyone of any calibre yet.
Kendall Holt will smoke amir khan
khan’s chin is very fragile..as much as i hate to say it, but he will get dropped again like he did with prescott when he fight’s another quality opponent in the future..
the matchmakers need to set up a bout with khan against kendall holt or madaina…they need to stop BS ing and just let him fight against the best..or they might just be scared?!