How good is Amir Khan?

By IggyChow - 10/02/2013 - Comments

khan#8The question of how good is Amir Khan always leads to a “split decision,” and so I wanted to take some time to discuss the enigma that is Khan. Below is a breakdown of what I believe are his strengths and his weaknesses.

Strengths

Speed – speed kills and Khan is arguably the fasted boxer on the planet. He has mesmerizing hand speed which against certain types of opponents (Zab Judah, Paulie Malinaggi, Dmitry Salita) was just too much for them to handle. If a boxer does not nullify Khan’s speed he is done for and Khan knows this is his best asset and relies on it to win him rounds.

Variety – Khan pole-axed Marcos Maidana to the canvas with a fantastic body shot and has throughout his career shown and ability to switch from head to body and back again. He uses the full artillery of punches when throwing combinations and this unpredictable punch variety played a big part in his rise to stardom.

Combinations – Khan does not know how to throw a single punch, his natural instinct is to throw 3,4,5,6 punches in a row. When you combine speed, variety and combination punching you have a very dangerous boxer who provides an entertaining style which fans love to watch.

Heart – Against Maidana, Lamont Peterson and Julio Diaz, Amir Khan showed that he has heart in abundance, he never gives up and gives in, the only way to stop Amir Khan boxing is to knock him out, yes he lost to Peterson on points but had those points not been deducted Khan would have won. Against Maidana he was on the verge of dropping yet was still throwing punches in bunches and never gave up.

Experience – Khan has great amateur experience, he has boxed at the biggest stage as a Professional, been a World Champion and suffered devastating losses. He has boxed all over the world, worked with Freddy Roach, sparred with Pacquiao and now has Virgil Hunter as his coach. At the age of 26 he has 31 fights under his belt and different weight categories and all of this means he has experience in abundance which can sometimes be the difference.

Weaknesses

Defense – Amir Khan has never learnt how to defend, he relies on his attack to be his defense but unfortunately against the very best this sometimes just isn’t enough. Everyone knows that Khan has a weak defense and throws combination and so they just wait to catch him with that one big counter punch. He has not grasped the concept of “hit and not be hit” which is the art of boxing as demonstrated so beautifully by Floyd Mayweather Jr. He has tried to address this by taking on Virgil Hunter, an expert defense coach. So far we have yet to see the defensive improvements but it takes time to change a habit of lifestyle. Mayweather does not necessarily have a poor chin, he has a poor defense, punch anyone clean in the chin with full power and he will go down. Amir Khan needs to learn how to protect his chin.

Power – In his early professional career Amir Khan had a great knockout record and it was assumed he had great punching power however his power is average at best and fighters such as Lamont Peterson are able to just walk him down and soak up his punches. Khan is awful on the back-foot but when a fighter is not troubled by his power that is exactly how he has to fight. Peterson was wiped away by Lucas Matthysse because he could not deal with the power. Imagine Khan vs. Matthysse. Matthysse has an iron chin and will have Khan on the back-foot all night and in my opinion would annihilate Khan. Khan needs to work on throwing from the hip and not just throwing 5 and 6 fast but weak punches which have less impact than 1 or 2 slower but more powerful punches.

Boxing Brain – Mayweather once said that the 3 ingredients you must have to be a great boxer are brains, chin and heart. Khan’s biggest flaw is brains, he only fights with heart. Watch the Garcia fight, the first two rounds Khan fought with a brains and Garcia was being out-boxed and he looked stunned in the corner. Once Khan got caught with the big counter punch it was all over, brains went out the window, instead of moving, clinching and head movement he tried backpedaling and punching back which inevitably led to Khan getting KO’d.

Movement – Khan does move but not in the right way, for Khan to be at his best he needs to know how to fight in the pocket by using head and lateral movement. Amir Khan only moves forwards and occasionally backwards but when he is in the pocket he is terrible and gets hit a lot and throws very little back. This is an area Virgil Hunter must focus on if Khan is to fulfill his potential.

Complacency – Khan is always look at his next fight when he has a current fight in his horizon, he also did not train in between fights which is unbelievable when you think he managed to win a World title. The best of the best train all year round and live and breathe boxing. Until Khan shows this dedication he will always fall short.

I think the above summarizes my views on Amir Khan. I’m sure these are all things which many would agree on and others would disagree on. This is my first article so your thoughts are very much appreciated.



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