By William Mackay: According to fighthype.com, Naazim Richardson, the trainer for Bernard Hopkins, could be the next trainer for former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan. Richardson isn’t coming out and saying that he’ll be Khan’s next trainer but it sure looks like that. If that happens, Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach could either be let go or he’ll have to share the training duties with Richardson.

Richardson thinks that the 25-year-old Khan should move up in weight to 147 lbs because he feels he’s losing something by fighting at 140 lbs. Richardson also doesn’t blame Khan for being knocked out by Danny Garcia, who he feels puts on a lot of weight when he makes 140 for his fights. Richardson sees Garcia as a fighter that puts on ton of size after he rehydrates to make weight.

I think Khan would be making a big mistake if he moves up to 147 to fight because the guys up there are melting down from 160 to fight. If you think Khan has had it bad in getting knocked out at lightweight and light welterweight just imagine what it will be like when he starts getting hit by guys like Victor Ortiz, Andre Berto, Randall Bailey, Devon Alexander, Mike Jones and Kell Brook.

I think Khan would be getting knocked out left and right. He’d then have to re-think the whole idea of fighting at welterweight and would probably move back down in weight and start looking for yet another trainer to save what’s left of his sagging career.

I honestly don’t see Richardson being able to do any more for Khan’s career than Roach or Khan’s previous trainer could. The problem goes beyond training. If he can’t take a healthy shot from an opponent then it doesn’t hatter who trains him. You could have all the great trainers from the past working on Khan and yet he’s still likely be in deep trouble once he got hit hard. Even the great Muhammad Ali had to rely on his chin every once in a while when was younger and hard to hit. If Khan can’t take a hard shot without going down then Richardson won’t be able to help him and he could be a short experiment for Khan if he does end up hiring him.