Khan might as well be back with Roach

By Boxing News - 01/01/2013 - Comments

roach45By Scott Gilfoid: In looking at Amir Khan’s recent fight with Carlos Molina one thing that jumps out at you is how little Khan has really changed from his previous fights under trainer Freddie Roach. Other than Khan looking more mechanical, and less intelligent in the ring, I think there was absolutely no improvement in his game whatsoever. If anything, Khan looks worse off under the guidance of his new trainer Virgil Hunter, because if this supposed to be an improvement in his game than he’s not getting a good deal.

I think Khan would be much better off at the Wildcard gym where he can get more attention from LA crowd, first rate sparring at all times, and fight strategy that is more attuned to his own style. Hunter is not going to be able to make enough of an improvement to keep Khan from getting knocked out like he would with any other trainer. It’s not possible.

Khan’s chin will let him down with Hunter just as it with any trainer that he would be with. Heck, Roach can tell Khan to jab all night as well. There’s no great secret to what Hunter has been telling Khan to do, and he was already doing these things with Roach and other trainers. But the important thing is Khan still gets hit just as much.

The only change is that Golden Boy Promotions picked out a tiny fighter with no power or speed for Khan to beat up in Carlos Molina. Believe me, Khan would have beaten up on Molina with Roach just as bad as with Hunter. If anything, Roach would have likely had Khan taking Molina out much faster because it was clear this guy was someone that Khan could safely machine-gun out of there in two or three rounds had he unloaded everything in his arsenal on the guy.

Overall, I think Khan is worse off with Hunter because he’s not going to make any real change in his game that’s going to keep Khan from getting knocked out when he fights Danny Garcia again. That’s just the way it’s going to be. It’s like if Joe Frazier changed trainers before fighting George Foreman for a second time.

Do you honestly think it would have made a difference for Frazier if he had a new trainer before the second fight with Foreman? It wouldn’t. Foreman was going to knock Frazier out again no matter who trained him, and the same thing with Khan with his future fight against Garcia. It’s not the trainer, it’s Khan. If he doesn’t have the chin to beat the better fighters in the division there’s not much you can do.



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