By Sebastian Mora: Amir “KING” Khan, the man who claims to have the fastest hands in boxing, the biggest heart, and also the boxing skills to beat the pound for pound best Floyd Mayweather in a chess match. If you watch his fights, you do see a talented boxer, you also see a boxer that fights every round with passion and determination, and most importantly a fighter that believes every single word that comes out of his mouth.
The question is, why has he not yet gained the respect of so many hardcore boxing fans? Is it because he’s gotten stopped twice? Nope. Is it because he talks a lot of trash? Nope. Is it because he’s from the UK? I don’t think so.
The reason why I truly believe Amir King Khan has not gained the respect of so many hardcore boxing fans is because the boxing fans UNLIKE other sports fans, don’t forget. I will explain what I mean by that. Back in September 6th, 2008 Amir Khan faced the Colombian K.O artist Breidis Prescott, which was supposed to be an opponent for the boxer Khan to look good against and move on to bigger and better things in the U.S. Before the fight, like always Khan came in talking a big game, stating that he was 100% ready, and that his Cuban coach (Jorge Rubio) had the perfect strategy to beat the Colombian bull. The fight came, and like everybody here knows, he got Knocked the **** out in only one round.
After the fight, he completely contradicted himself stating that he was not 100% ready for the fight, and that it was his trainer’s fault because he rushed him to take the fight. The boxing fan at the moment believed Khan, and still had hope that he was going to turn out to be something special because he always showed talent and huge potential.
Although he never pushed for the rematch, the boxing fan looked away and gave him another chance. He went on to beat decent names like; Marco Antonio Barrera, Paul Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana, and Zab Judah.
Then, the fight vs Lamont Peterson came. Again, like the Prescott fight, Khan was facing a decent puncher, with decent skills and speed. He spent the WHOLE night pushing and running, (NO I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE SO CALLED WRITERS THAT CALL LATERAL MOVEMENT RUNNING) but Khan literally ran ALL NIGHT, showing proof that his inside game had a lot of room for improvement. Peterson went on to win a controversial decision, which I think should have been a draw. To Khan’s defense, he did ask for the rematch, up until Peterson tested positive for Performance enhancing drugs (PED).
He went on to fight another Boxer with decent power, skills and speed in Danny SWIFT Garcia. Before the fight, like all of his other fights he said he was 100% ready, and that his HOF coach had the perfect strategy. The fight came, and for the first 3 rounds Khan was actually looking impressive. Then the 4th round came, and just like the Prescott fight he got caught by a punch that he did not see. Unlike the Maidana fight, he was not able to adjust and survive and he went on to loose the fight by TKO.
Now, I am not taking credit away from Khan for getting knocked out, but what did he do after getting knocked out? He went back to the same story. He was not 100% ready, his coach was not spending enough time with him, and he let the crowd get into his head. The normal thing to do for a boxer of Amir Khan’s caliber is to ask for a rematch RIGHT AWAY. But no, he chose to move up in weigh and fight journey man Carlos Molina. In this fight, Khan was supposed to look sensational, but he failed to. After that he went on to fight Collazo and Alexander, and looked good at beating them.
However, Collazo and Alexander DO NOT have the 3 strengths that you need to have to beat Khan, which are (Skill, Power and Speed) Alexander has decent skill and speed, but no power, Collazo has decent skills but no power or speed. Now God has given Khan the chance to show us that he can beat a boxer with those 3 strengths, (Kell Brook & Keith Thurman) and what is Khan doing? Acting as if they have not done enough.
Kell Brook in my opinion has done more than Khan in the welterweight division. Lets not forget that he beat Porter, which gave a beating to the top name that Khan has faced so far in the welterweight division, which is Devon Alexander.
Then we have Keith Thurman, like Brook he has a far better resume than Khan in the welterweight division.
Khan wants the boxing fan to forget about the strengths of the 3 men that gave him a LOSS, and he wants us to support his run for a Mayweather or Pacquiao fight. He knows that if he faces any of those two boxers (Brook, Thurman) he runs the risk of getting knocked out, and forever he will have to forget about making a big money fight against May or Pac. That is why we cannot forget, and demand Khan that if he wants to fight the cash cows, to earn it like the other welterweight boxers are doing it.
If Khan fights Broner or Algieri as rumored, he will be proving my point. Ignoring the fast, strong, and skillful boxers(Brook and Thurman) , for the less powerful fighters in Broner and Algieri. Broner is a 140 pounder, and Algieri has fought in the 147 limit only once vs Manny PACMAN Pacquiao. I believe Khan could beat Brook in hard fought 12 round battle, however I think he gets stopped by Keith Thurman before 10 rounds.
Say what you want about this guy, he does have the tools to give the best a tough night. He has charisma, great speed, decent power, and now he has a great corner. Will he take advantage of all that, and face the other lions in the division? Or, will he keep running his mouth on social media, and fight a less dangerous opponent to keep his Mayweather or Pacquiao dream fight alive? Whoever he chooses to fight, I wish him nothing but the best, and whatever opinions we might have regarding Khan’s career, at the end of the day he is just a boxer that is trying to feed his family, and is risking his life every time he goes in between those ropes.
You can also read my past article regarding another talented boxer, Gary Rusell Jr. http://www.boxingnews24.com/2015/03/gary-russell-jr-does-he-match-up-against-the-elite/.
If you wish to contact me, you can e-mail me at sebastianmora67@yahoo.com. I will start posting mailbags every Wednesday. If you want to ask me a question, or share your opinion with me, e-mail it to me and I will respond to it in the boxingnews24 wednesday mailbag.
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