(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) By Scott Gilfoid: In what could be the beginning of the end for Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) being trained by Virgil Hunter, Khan hints that he was over-trained for his fight last Friday against Chris Algieri (20-2, 8 KOs), and that he’s going to be the one in charge of how training goes. Khan says he’ll use Hunter for his next fight against whoever that may be, but he’s going to be more involved with what’s going on in his training camps.
This all very predictable, as Khan has twice previously dumped well-respected trainers after poor performances in the past. In 2008, Khan was knocked out in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott. After that fight, Khan’s trainer Jorge Rubio was let go. After Khan was knocked out by Danny Garcia in 2012, Khan replaced trainer Freddie Roach with Virgil Hunter, a trainer known for his ability to teach defense. But with Khan’s poor performance against Algieri, it’s quite possible that trainer Virgil Hunter’s days are numbered as Khan’s trainer.
“I must become my own boss now. Virgil is a great trainer and he will be in my corner next time,” Khan said via ESPN.co.uk. ”But I know myself and my own body better than anyone and it is my take on it all which will decide where we go from here.”
I get the feeling that if Khan has one more poor performance in winning a fight, Hunter might be gone in place of some other trainer that Khan believes can get him to the next level. I had a feeling that Khan would come up with some kind of training excuse for him not being able to shine against Algieri, and sure enough, I was right. I’m just surprised that Khan didn’t dump Hunter after the fight, because that’s what I figured Khan would do. But I think the only reason why Hunter is still there is because Khan won the fight. Had he lost, which was very possible if Algieri had threw a few more punches in each round, I think Hunter would be history already.
“Sometimes you can over-train,” Khan said. ”I was in camp for 14 weeks and sparred over 160 rounds, many of them in 12-round championship sessions. I left too much in the gym. I need to go back to being the old Amir Khan.”
I think Khan in denial about his own limitations. Khan’s problem is he’d been matched against four consecutive soft jobs before his fight against Algieri last Friday, and this gave him a warped perception about how good he is. When he finally faced a halfway decent fighter who has a good boxing brain in Algieri, Khan was badly exposed. Instead of realizing that he’s bumped into the upper limits of his ability, Khan is blaming it on the training methods and how hard he worked in camp.
The thing is Khan will likely have even worse problems in his next fight if he gets put in with someone good like Marcos Maidana, Kell Brook or Keith Thurman. There are levels in the sport, and Khan is simply bumping into his own limitations. He’s a decent fighter, but there are guys that clearly above him in talent and/or punching power. We just saw that last Friday with Khan facing a more talented fighter than himself in Chris Algieri. The only reason Khan got the victory was because Algieri made the mistake of not throwing enough punches. If he had made a minor correction on his work rate, he’d have won the fight. It’s as simple as that.
I see Virgil Hunter being dumped by Khan in the near future. Unless Khan goes back to facing the soft jobs again like he’d been recently facing before the Algieri fight, I see Khan continuing to look dreadful and him then looking for a scapegoat to blame it on. As such, I see Hunter being sacrificed in order to give Khan peace of mind.
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