Does Khan have a misplaced belief in his own power?

By Sam Jaegerson - 05/01/2013 - Comments

khan24523Before you read this article I want it to be known that I am a huge fan of Amir Khan. The excitement his fights bring have been unmatched on these shores since Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton, whether you watch his fights to see his lightning speed paralyze yet another opponent or you tune in to see him suffer yet another devastating loss, no one can question Amir is pure entertainment.

After reading many articles about how suspect Amir’s chin is, I question, is this the biggest floor in the many attributes the talented 26 year old has.

No one questions his speed, heart or his devotion to the sport. Yet you will struggle to hear anything positive about his chin, his ability to recover and his fascination to fight Floyd Mayweather before he has even beaten the opponent in front of him. However, the one attribute we hear very little of, an attribute which I often hear Amir Khan talk up, is his power. Yet again on Saturday night I watched Amir move around the ring, pick his combinations and out-punch Julio Diaz on the punch stats, yet at no point did Diaz look overwhelmed or worried.

After the fight Amir praised Julio’s toughness and complemented him on never taking a backwards step. This made me think back to the Danny Garcia fight, perched on the edge of my seat I watched an uncomfortable looking Danny Garcia struggle with Amir’s pace for the first three rounds. In the first three rounds Amir’s accuracy was unbelievable, yet one delightful punch from Danny Garcia and the fight was all but over.

Once more Amir had won the punch stats yet Danny Garcia never looked like going down. In fact such was his confidence in withstanding Amir’s biggest shot his tactics were to throw his left hook as Amir stepped in to throw his combinations.

Now maybe I am being harsh on a fighter who has stopped 19 of his 29 opponents. Yet I don’t remember being blown away by an Amir Khan knockout. Dimitri Salita simply wasn’t at his level, the Marco Antonio Barrera fight should have been stopped immediately after the head clash, Paul McCloskey was another fight stopped prematurely due to a cut, Paulie Malignaggi in my mind certainly had the ability to fight on, after all this is a guy who fought with a fractured cheekbone for 10 rounds. At the same time I will credit Amir with a very good stoppage win over Zab Judah following a fantastic body shot.

Danny Garcia, Julio Diaz, Lamont Peterson and Marcos Maidana, fighters who took everything Amir Khan threw at them and just kept coming. Yes Maidana did touch the canvas yet was still able to recover, and not just get through the round but nearly stop Amir late on. A top class puncher surely wouldn’t have allowed him to get off so easily.

Kell Brook, Adrien Broner, Floyd Mayweather, Danny Garcia, Roberto Guerrero, Lucas Matthysse and Manuel Marquez, all fighters I’m sure Amir has in his sights. Will any of these fear Amir’s power? Unfortunately for him I don’t believe they will. I can see all of these fighters throwing one to take one and coming out better off.

So what does the future hold for Amir Khan? Only time will tell? All I know is, come December once again I will be on the edge of my seat watching one of the most entertaining boxers in the world not knowing what the next round will bring.



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