By Scott Gilfoid: Ricky Hatton sees Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) potentially having a really tough time against former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KO’s) on May 3rd if Khan elects to get in the trenches and punch with Collazo like he’s done in his other fights during his career.
Hatton sees that as a recipe for disaster for Khan if he tries to get even with Collazo each time he takes a big shot from him. Instead of punching with him, Hatton sees Khan as having a better chance if he boxes and uses his hand speed.
Unlike a lot of people, Hatton thinks Khan will have earned a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he beats Collazo. Hatton doesn’t seem to have noticed that Collazo has only one win over a notable opponent [Victor Ortiz] during his entire 14-year pro career, and that was against a rusty Ortiz. Collazo has been in the ring with some notable opposition like Hatton, Andre Berto, and Shane Mosley, but he lost to all those guys. That’s why it seems so incredibly strange that Hatton would feel that Khan will deserve a shot against Mayweather off of a win over Collazo.
“I just think it’s a horrible fight for Amir. There are easier fights he could have had,” Hatton said to mancunianmatters. “My advice to Amir is, if his team think he will go to war like he has done in the past, it’s going to be a very, very tough night for him. You’d like to think Amir will beat him if he sticks to his boxing, but if he goes to war it would be the worst thing he could do.”
Khan will end up slugging with Collazo sooner or later, because that’s the way the guy is wired. Khan can’t help himself. If he gets hit, he automatically walks forward and tries to fire off shots. It doesn’t matter how many times his trainer Virgil Hunter tells him not to do this, Khan will end up doing this in the Collazo fight. The only question is how many times will he thoughtlessly charge forward and do this.
If it’s only a small percentage of times, then Khan may survive the full 12 rounds without getting knocked out by Collazo. But if Khan chooses to slug in each round then he’ll get knocked out by Collazo sooner or later. The loss will then finish Khan’s dream of fighting Mayweather. It won’t be the end of the world for Khan, though, because he can always fight domestic level guys like Kell Brook.
If Khan beats Collazo, “He would have proven he deserves the shot then,” Hatton said.
I disagree completely with Hatton. If Khan beats Collazo, then it’ll put him in no better position for a Mayweather fight than it would be for recent Collazo conqueror Freddy Hernandez. Khan should have to beat someone that’s actually relevant like Keith Thurman or Mayweather’s leftovers Marcos Maidana. If Khan can beat either of those guys, then I see Khan deserving a big money fight against Mayweather. And, no, I don’t count Khan’s previous win over Maidana as a legitimate win due to the referee being overly involved when Maidana was trying to finish a badly hurt Khan off in the last three rounds.
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