(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Scott Bells: Virgil Hunter recently said he thinks Amir Khan should fight a rematch with Danny Garcia and that he would shine against him second time around. Floyd Mayweather also said, when explaining his dismissal of Khan as an opponent, that Khan had not beaten the guys to whom he had previously lost.
I think both Hunter and Mayweather are correct; I am a big fan of Amir’s hand speed and quickness of foot, but obviously he is too easy to hit at times when he stays in the pocket – the exceptions to this are his masterclass performances against Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander who are good, but not great fighters.
The beauty of the rematch against Garcia is that it is a fight that Khan should win; stylistically he could box Garcia’s head off all night, BUT the question is whether he has learnt the lesson of the first fight where he consistently stayed in the pocket too long after throwing quick combinations and the big shot was only a matter of time.
The shots Khan gets hit with most regularly are wide hooks that he doesn’t see coming; this was the case against Prescott, Maidana (when Khan had his hands down thinking he was out of range when he was not), Juan Diaz, Peterson and Garcia where the consequences were dire.
In his best performances, Khan has been in and out and also shown better defensive movements whilst under Hunter. He will still get hit occassionally, but needs to make sure his chin is not exposed and that he is not just a sitting duck in the pocket. Against Garcia in a rematch, he will know that Garcia will be looking to time a hook as he moves in with his fast combinations. In truth, Khan would need to come in with his punches and then get in very close on the inside after throwing to take away and chance Garcia would have loading up, and then mix this up with punching and pulling out of range immediately. Khan could do this ability wise, and it would almost certainly get him the win as Garcia is a good boxer who does nothing spectacularly. His power is good but not concussive so Khan would need to dictate the tempo and put in the exact same kind of performance that he did against Collazo and Alexander.
Some may of course say this is a boring way of fighting, but it is mighty effective and takes into account Mayweather’s mantra of ‘hit and don’t get hit’ – Khan can ill-afford to lose another fight, but redemption against Garcia would prepare him perfectly for a shot against Manny Pacquaio and then Kell Brook in 2016. The biggest mistake Khan can now make is to sit out the rest of 2015 waiting for a shot against Pacquaio in early 2016 – he needs to stay active as his performance against Algieri recently was poor by his standards.
An active fighter who is winning is the best kind of fighter for fans to have in their minds – Amir needs to capitalise on being at the peak of his career right now and right the wrongs of the past so he can go down as a great fighter.
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