By William Mackay: Trainer Freddie Roach says Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) is going to jump on WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (23-0, 14 KO’s) in the 1st round on Saturday to see if he can get him out quickly if he’s not ready or can’t cope.

Roach said on Sky Ringside “We don’t take anyone lightly. We’re going to test him in the 1st round. If Garcia isn’t warmed up, it could be an early night.”

Coming out fast and trying to score an immediate knockout is kind of par for the course for Khan, because he ALWAYS comes out fast swinging for the fences in the 1st round of his fights due to his nervous energy. It’s a double-edged sword for Khan. Sometimes Khan does a great job by starting fast, such as when he KO’d Dmitry Salita in the 1st, and knocked Marcos Maidana and Lamont Peterson down in the 1st. But then there’s Khan paying the price for starting fast in his fight against Breidis Prescott when Khan came out looking to punch and was knocked out in the 1st round.

Roach should be trying to steer Khan away from starting fast because he doesn’t have the chin to jump on a guy early. Khan has fast hands, but he doesn’t move his head when he’s throwing his flurries, and it makes him vulnerable to getting his bell rung when he opens up like that. Khan is really hittable because he tends to stand square to to his opponents when he opens up with his flurries in the early rounds. Khan throws combinations in all parts of his fights, but early on he seems to throw a lot of flurries that puts him in jeopardy of being knocked cold.

Garcia isn’t nearly as fast as Khan, and probably even slower than Lamont Peterson. However, Garcia has excellent power and he’s very aggressive. He more than makes up for his lack of speed by his aggressiveness and power. He’s probably not going to get knocked out in the 1st round like Roach might be hoping for so hopefully Khan doesn’t waste his time trying to take him out quickly. It’s too high of a risk for the weak-chinned Khan.