By Liam Smith: As most people are aware by now the Mandalay Bay Resort witnessed the fantastic knock out of Amir Khan at the weekend and first of all I would like to congratulate WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia on his victory. However as I watched the fight unfold I could not help but ask myself if it was really happening. Not that it is such a shock that Khan had been knocked out again but that he was so naive to yet again ignore everything that has gotten him to world title level.

Now I know Amir has a lot of haters who claim he is overrated as a fighter. They might well be correct. As a toe-to-toe fighter Amir Khan is not anywhere near world title level but as a, so to speak, hit and run boxer there is no doubting his ability. I have watched Khan from his amateur days to his 29th professional fight and have, for the most part, been impressed with his boxing. Now I say “boxing” as he has never been a fighter but too many times now have I watched Amir Khan get involved in a tear up.

Hearing what sounds like Khan planning to dump trainer Freddie Roach, I wonder why Roach has not already given up on him. Watching the fight again I just can not get my head around Khan’s attitude in the 4th round. There is no way he listened to what Roach had to say while sitting on that stool and if you are going to ignore what the best trainer in the world at the moment, arguably the best trainer the sports history, has to say then in my opinion you do not deserve to be in the sport at all. Of course I can not say exactly what Roach had to say in between rounds but I can guarantee he did not tell Khan to go out and prove to the world he was not hurt when he clearly was. Anyone who knows the sport well will tell you Khan had to simply survive round 4 without being caught again. Don’t worry about conceding the round just do not get caught again. Garcia’s cut was bad and in a horrible position for a fighter. If Khan could just survive round 4 and get his head clear for the 5th then some clever boxing, targeting that eye, could have seen Danny Garcia unable to continue into the championship rounds.

If you look back to Khan’s previous fights it seems to be any time he is hurt he tries to stand and trade with his opponent to prove that he is not. The great Muhammad Ali once described being hurt badly in a fight as being in a hallway with a room at the end of it which you do not want to enter at all costs. It appears that when Amir Khan finds himself in this “hallway” he is desperate to get himself into that “room”. Amir quite simply needs to learn how to survive.

I believe if Khan goes back to the drawing board, focuses on his defensive game, and puts that together with what has served him so well all these years then he will, as he has said, “be back stronger than ever”. However if he is not willing to listen to his trainer, whoever that may be down the line, and get out of this bad habit of trying to prove his chin when he is hurt then he may as well retire right now. And at the young age of 25 what a shame that would be.