Amir Khan will have been out of the ring for seven months by the time he fights again

By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) won’t likely see action until December, which is seven months removed from his last fight, a one-sided 11th round TKO victory over Paulie Malignaggi on May 15th. Khan, 23, was supposed to be fighting on July 31st against 38-year-old Joel Casamayor, but Khan’s promotional team, Golden Boy Promotions, opted to have Khan skip this date and wait around until December to possibly fight the winner of the July 31st bout between lightweights Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz.

Like I said, the fight against Malignaggi was one-sided and it’s hard to see what Khan could have gotten out of that fight in terms of teaching him anything and improving him. It was basically a fight that they had a good idea that Khan could win and look good in. But in putting Khan in with the light punching Malignaggi, who had no chance because of his lack of offensive weaponry, it didn’t teach Khan how to deal with the big punchers in the light welterweight division.

That’s what Khan needs to learn, not how to beat fighters with zero power. Khan already knows how to do that, because most of his opponents while fighting at lightweight and light welterweight have had zero power. What Khan needs to learn is how to keep from getting knocked out again like he was in his one and only fight against a big puncher when he was stopped in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott in 2008. Putting Khan in with guys like Malignaggi is a waste of time.

And Khan’s fight before that was against Dmitri Salita, who Khan stopped in the 1st round. You can’t blame Khan for that one because Salita, for some reason, was ranked number #1 by the WBA, despite having no experience against top tier fighters. Khan’s last meaningful fight was against former WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik last year in June 2009. Kotelnik, like Malignaggi, is a light puncher and Khan was able to do well against him.

However, Kotelnik had enough power for Khan to improve as a fighter and I think he got something out of that fight. But by the time that Khan faces his next test, if they match him up with a good fighter in December, it will have been a year and a half between competitive fights for Khan, and that’s not a good thing for a fighter that you’re trying to turn into a mega star. If the idea is to build up Khan against lightweights like Casamayor, Diaz and Marquez, and then cash out with Khan facing a top fighter like Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao, then I suppose this is the way to go.

But I think Khan will get massacred when that time comes, not because he doesn’t have the basic skills, but rather because he hasn’t been brought along the right way. In the past year, Khan hasn’t had any competitive fights other than the Kotelnik bout, and if he’s going to now be matched up against lightweights, who will be forced to move up in weight if they want the privilege to fight with the inexperienced Khan, then I don’t see how this is preparing Khan to fight the best light welterweights or a great welterweight like Mayweather or maybe Pacquiao. That seems to be the wrong way of bringing Khan along if the idea is to improve him as a fighter and get him ready to fright the likes of Marcos Maidana, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Mayweather and Pacquiao.

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