(Photo: Hoganphotos) By John F. McKenna (McJack): When WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) enters the ring Saturday night against World Boxing Council (WBC) light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (23-0, 14 KO’s) he is looking for some measure of redemption. Khan and Garcia will be squaring off at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas for a title unification fight.

Khan had been preparing for a rematch with Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) after losing his WBA and IBF titles to Peterson in a highly controversial fight last December. The rematch however was cancelled two weeks prior to the May 19 rematch when Lamont tested positive for synthetic testosterone. Amir was given back his World Boxing Association (WBA) title belt this past week after the belt was stripped from Peterson. A final determination has not yet been made regarding Lamont’s International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt.

Khan had an extended fifteen week training camp because of the cancelled fight with Peterson. Amir also changed conditioning coaches letting go of Alex Ariza and taking on
Rueben Tabares. Thus far Khan is well pleased with Tabares.

Khan is no longer looking backward but acknowledges that he has learned from the mistakes he made in the Peterson fight and now says that the loss he suffered last December may have been a wake up call. The loss, though painful Amir now concedes may have enabled him to be a better fighter. Khan to some extent ignored trainer Freddie Roach’s admonition of not allowing himself to become trapped on the ropes. Peterson was able to use his body punching skills to wear down Amir early on in the fight.

Amir states that he has trained harder for this fight than for any other fight and he believes that he will knockout Garcia in the later rounds because of his conditioning.
To his credit Garcia did not hesitate when given the opportunity to face Khan in the ring and insists that to be the best you need to fight the best. Amir also jumped at the opportunity to fight the unbeaten Garcia.

Khan is hopeful that a good showing against Garcia will propel him to bigger and better things. He is again talking about moving up in weight if he gets past Garcia and is still eager to land a fight down the road with undefeated superstar WBA light middleweight champion Floyd Mayweathr Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s). Khan believes that Mayweather at 35 is showing some signs of slowing down.