By Chris Williams: Former two division world champion David Haye believes that fellow countryman Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) has a good chance at pulling off a big upset if it’s him that winds up in the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 3rd in Las Vega, Nevada. Haye points to Khan’s fast hand speed and the condition that he’s currently in as factors that would enable him to have a better than average chance at beating Mayweather in this fight, and then going down in history as the guy that beat Floyd.
“If Amir is in the condition he’s currently in – he’s rock solid, he looks fantastic – then I definitely think he has a shot – he has more of a shot than anyone else,” Haye said to Talk Sport. “The key is to have the speed, and more than that to maintain that speed throughout the fight.”
What Haye seems to be forgetting is that Mayweather is a counter puncher first and foremost. He’s going to be waiting on Khan to use his speed to throw his shots so that he can counter punch him with punches that he doesn’t see coming. This isn’t Paul McCloskey that Khan would be in the ring with on May 3rd. Mayweather is almost as fast as Khan is in terms of hand speed, but he’s a lot more intelligent fighter, and he’s deadly accurate with his punches.
Khan is someone that needs constant advice from his trainer Virgil Hunter for him to function in his fights, and even then Khan tends to filter out much of what’s being said to him. If you listen to what Hunter tells him to do in between rounds, Khan rarely is about to stay on key with what he’s being asked to do. Khan can’t trust his own instincts against a fighter as talented as Mayweather, because he’ll get beaten up and totally dominated. He’s got to follow what Hunter is saying at all times for him to have a chance to beat Mayweather in this fight.
It really doesn’t matter how good of shape Khan is in for this fight. He’s always in good shape. His problem is his inability to take the hard shots he gets hit with. Khan has currently been in training for 6 months already, and you can expect him to turn things into overdrive once he hears the news that he’s got the fight. That raises the question of whether Khan will be over-trained for this fight. He’s looking good now because he’s peaked, but what will Khan look like in May after 9 consecutive months of hard training? He might leave his best in the gym and come out with nothing against Mayweather.
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