By William Mackay: Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) is still talking about his sparring sessions with various sparring partners as evidence that he doesn’t have a glass jaw like a lot of boxing fans seem to think he has. Khan fights IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO’s) on Saturday night in a crossroads fight for both fighters, and if Khan gets knocked out again, his career could make a downward turn for the worse.

Khan thinks he’ll have no problems taking Judah’s hard left hands shots, and seems to think that because he was able to take big hits in sparring while wearing protective head gear and 16 ounce gloves that it will mean that he’ll be able to withstand Judah’s shots.

Khan said this to Sky Sports News: “I’ve proved I’ve got one of the best chins in the boxing business. I’ve been hit with huge shots in sparring. Manny [Pacquiao] hit me with a clean back hand, his hardest shot, and I walked straight onto it and still stood there.”

A back hand is Pacquiao’s best shot? I always thought a backhand was more of a slap than a huge power shot. Whatever the case, I don’t agree with Khan that he has one of the best chins in boxing. If that was the case, Khan wouldn’t have been staggered by a jab thrown from Breidis Prescott and knocked out in the 1st round. Further, if Khan had a great chin, he wouldn’t have been staggered by Marcos Maidana in their fight. Khan has only been in with two fighters that can punch during his entire pro career – Maidana and Prescott – and both of those guys had Khan badly hurt.

Khan’s chin is obviously good enough to beat the weaker punchers, as we’ve seen already. However, it’s still hard to even give Khan a lot of credit for taking hits against the weak punchers because he basically beaten a lot of them in one-sided fights without getting hit very much. In his fight against Andriy Kotelnik, Khan ran a lot and didn’t mix it up with Kotelnik until very late in the fight when Khan already had jabbed his way to an insurmountable lead and was willing to take chances.

Kotelnik quickly punished Khan and had both of his cheeks red and swollen in the few times Kotelnik landed late. Had Khan gone toe-to-toe with Kotelnik, I can see Khan getting knocked out. This is why I don’t see his chin as being anywhere close to being one of the best in the business.

If Judah lands something big on Saturday night, Khan will go down and might not get up. If he does get up, he’s going to be in trouble because Judah can punch well on the inside and is a great finisher. He won’t tire out the way that Maidana did after he had Khan staggering around the ring like a drunk last year.