Has Virgil Hunter improved Amir Khan?

By Stevie Ocallaghan - 05/01/2013 - Comments

khan53By Stevie Ocallaghan: After last Saturday nights fight with Amir Khan v Julio Diaz, I have been trying to figure out if new trainer Virgil Hunter has actually improved Khan, and I don’t think he has.

For me Khan is always best going forward, sure there is the vulnerability regarding his chin, but the punches that floored him would have floored anybody else in the division.

Hunter has really came to note with his work with Andre Ward. Ward is a great defensive fighter and defence was probably the reason why Khan decided to work with Hunter.

Hunter seamed like a good choice but after the lackluster win against a good but past his prime Julio Diaz, I can’t help bit think that the snap has been taken away from him.

A few years back Khan stopped an over-matched Michael Gomez in the fith round and almost immediately changed trainers. Cuban Jorge Rubio was brought in and it was Rubio’s choice to select Breidis Prescott. We all know what happened there. Rubio was immediately sacked and then Khan and his promoter went on to choose Fredie Roach as they thought he would be the better option for him. Just look at the list. Marco Antonio Barrera was stopped in the fifth, Andrey Kotelnik unanimous decision, Dimitri Salita first round KO, Paulie Malignaggi stopped in the 11th, fight of the year win over Marcos Maidana, 6th round stoppage of Paul McCloskey and then a dominating 5th round KO of Zab Judah. Now that is a record any boxer out there would be proud of.

Khan then arguably lost to Lamont Peterson. In my mind, Khan won that fight. Both where guilty of fouling but only Khan got points deducted points that would have allowed him to keep his belt.

In the Danny Garcia fight, Khan started brilliantly for the first 2 rounds and then got sloppy. Some say it was a lucky punch, but there is no luck if you throw a punch and intend to catch your opponent and that’s what happened. Garcia threw a great punch and put Khan down. He scrambled back to his feet and hung on, but unfortunately for Khan, Garcia knew he had him hurt and stopped him on his feet in the 4th.

My point about that is that it was all really exciting, excitement that is missing now. Sure, he is fast, but he is thinking more of defense now. Defense is not a bad thing but when you take away the attacking capability of someone like Amir Khan, then there really isn’t much left.

I would like to see him go back to what he does best. The fighter who beat all the names I previously mentioned is a big draw and one that puts bums on seats. An exciting fighter is what the fans want to see.

I don’t think Virgil Hunter has improved him at all. I think he has stunted his progress as a fighter because the Khan that knocked out Zab Judah would have destroyed Julio Diaz, but who else is there for him to choose from.



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