Amir Khan hoping to resurrect career

By Boxing News - 01/14/2018 - Comments

Image: Amir Khan hoping to resurrect career

By Tim Royner: It’s been 2 long years since Amir ‘King’ Khan last fought, and he’s hoping to resurrect his career with the help of Eddie Hearn. The British promoter plans on initially having the 31-year-old Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) fight in the UK on April 21 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Khan has 3 fights under his contract with Hearn ad his Matchroom Sport stable.

Hearn hasn’t said if fight No.2 will be in the UK too. We do know that fight No.3 will be in the UK if it’s Kell Brook that he is facing for that date. Khan isn’t saying if he’ll absolutely fight the 31-year-old Brook or not. Khan says it will depend on the weight.

Khan wants to be able to fight for a world title in 2018 against Keith Thurman, Jeff Horn or Errol Spence. Getting a title shot against either of those fighters after he takes 1 or 2 tune-up level fights could be difficult for Khan. It’s not impossible though. If Khan’s promoter Eddie Hearn makes them a big enough offer, one of them might be willing to give him an undeserved title shot at their belt. It would send a wrong message to the sport of boxing for a fighter coming off of a 2-year layoff to be given a crack at a world title after 1 or 2 warm-up fights. This is boxing though. There’s an element of professional wrestling to it where the popular guys get opportunities over fighters that have been waiting their turn for ages.

Khan had an unpleasant experience the last time he stepped foot inside the squared circle against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in May 2016 in getting knocked out by a vicious right hand in round 6. Khan moved up to 155 lbs. for the fight with Canelo, but he was still outsized by the heavyset redheaded Mexican fighter. Canelo was too big, too strong and too skilled for Khan in that fight. Khan took the fight with Canelo because he wanted a big fight. It cost Khan with his act of bravery and some would say desperation by fighting a much heavier Canelo. Khan had hand surgery to fix a problem that he’d had his entire career with his right hand. Khan believes that the injury kept him from being able to get power on his shots. It remains to be seen whether Khan’s power will be a factor in his fights. It takes a long time for fighters to come back from hand surgery. Khan’s right hand might not be any more powerful than it’s been in the past for him. One reason for Khan being slow in coming back is the time it’s taken for him to get comfortable again in using his right hand. Khan couldn’t rush back too soon following the surgery. So instead of fighting in 2017, Khan sat out the entire year while resting his right hand.

Khan took part in the celebrity reality television program I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.’ Khan’s weight dropped during his time in the jungle, and he felt positive about the experience. It allowed Khan to get in shape without going to training camp. One other benefit for Khan being on the reality television program in the UK is it allowed him to be seen by a lot of casual boxing fans in the country. Those fans will now be more inclined to see him return to the ring and fight. When it comes time for Khan to face Brook on Sky Box Office PPV, it’s going to be a huge plus that the fans saw him on the reality TV program in the UK. Those fans will be more willing to purchase his fight against Brook rather than turning up their noses at the fight due to them not having seen Khan fight inside the UK for many years. It’s been 7 years since Khan last fought in England. Khan spent all that time trying to become a star in the U.S, and failing miserably. Khan never did establish himself as a star in United States. He found out the hard way how difficult it is to become a big name in the country. Not every fighter that tries to become a Mayweather-like star in America is able to do it. Khan took a gamble to become popular overnight by facing Canelo, and the gamble blew up in his face. It was worth a try for Khan. He wasn’t going to make the U.S boxing fans easily forget his losses to Briedis Prescott, Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia without doing something drastic.

Eddie Hearn doesn’t plan on putting Khan in a risky fight right off the bat on April 21. Hearn wants to take it slowly with Khan at first by having him face someone that he can beat. If Khan winds up facing a slightly take fighter, it’s going to be his call to pick that fighter. Hearn isn’t going to put him in harm’s way. There’s too much to lose by him placing Khan in a risky situation where he could fail.

“He is very excited,” Hearn said to ESPN.com in talking about Khan’s comeback after 2 years out of the ring. “What came across in the meetings is his excitement and desire to fight again. He needs to come back with a very creditable fight. They are [potential opponents for a comeback fight] all good, solid international welterweights that will be dangerous after two years. Amir wants to come in at a good level. He does not want to fight someone with no credibility,” said Hearn.

I don’t think Khan is going to impress too many boxing fans with his first fight back. You never know. If Khan chooses to fight someone well-respected with a lot of punching power, he’ll earn the respect of the fans for his act of bravery. There are not too many fighters in the welterweight division that fit that description. The 147lb division is on the weak side right now. Just a few of the fighters have the kind of talent that can give Amir Khan problems in his comeback, but you never know though. He’s been out of the ring for a long time. He might have lost enough from his game for him to be vulnerable.

During Khan’s best years of his career, he held the WBA and IBF light welterweight titles until losing to Lamont Peterson by a 12 decision in 2011. There was a lot of controversy about the loss at the time, as Khan believed that he’d been robbed. The controversy disappeared in Khan’s next fight against Danny Garcia in 2012. Khan was knocked out by Garcia in the 4th round. That was a humbling defeat for Khan. He couldn’t explain it away by saying he’d been robbed by the judges or say it was a conspiracy.

If Khan can get a fight against Brook in late 2018 and beat him, he’ll be starting off 2019 in great and will be high demand for the world title holders at 147 and 154. It’s safe to say that Khan will be able to make his choice for who he wants to fight in whatever he wants to fight in. Beating Brook, as well as his 2 warm-up opponents, will bring Khan all the way back to the level he was at in 2011 before he was beating by Lamont Peterson. Khan would be the comeback fighter of the year if he wins all of his fights in 2018. It would be a huge story for Khan to be able to get back to that level. The odds of Khan doing that, however, are quite small. Just going by how Khan has performed in his last 3 fights, it’s unlikely that he’s going to be able to return to his former glory. Khan has been away from boxing for too long, and not taken it seriously the way he’s needed to since 2013. Khan didn’t just back off from the sport in 2016. He’s been treating his career as a part-time thing since 2013. Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a part time fighter for many years, and he was able to still succeed, but he’s a different type of talent. Mayweather had so much talent that he could stay out of the ring for ages and continue to find success. Khan isn’t that type of fighter. He’s the type that needs to be fighting 3 times a year, working hard, learning and building on his success. Unfortunately, Khan hasn’t been willing to pay his dues.

There are a lot of boxing fans that no longer believe in the 31-year-old Khan. He’s going to need to win them again by proving that he can still beat the best. Khan has never really shown that he’s able to defeat the best fighters in boxing. Khan’s best wins have against these fighters:

• Devon Alexander – he was having outside of the ring problems at the time he fought Khan

• Zab Judah – past his best years of his career when he fought Khan

• Paulie Malignaggi

• Marco Antonio Barrera – over-the-hill when he fought Khan

• Dmitry Salita

• Marcos Maidana – a good win for Khan, but he victory was tainted by the way the referee was getting in the way of Maidana when he had him hurt in round 10 and seemingly on the verge of being knocked out. If the referee had stood and let the action play out without getting in the way of Maidana and pulling him off of Khan, we might have seen a knockout win for the Argentinian

• Luis Collazo – past his best

• Chris Algieri – past his best

• Julio Diaz – past his best

Eddie Hearn is probably not going to push Khan too hard to fight quality opposition in his first 2 fights of his 3-fight contract with his Matchroom Sport promotions. Hearn wants to make sure that Khan is in one piece when he faces his fighter Kell Brook in December. By not putting pressure on Khan to face a good opponent in his first 2 fights this year, it will increase the chances that he’ll make it to the Brook fight with a nice 2-fight winning streak. The British boxing fans will be more eager to purchase the Khan-Brook fight on Sky Box Office PPV if Khan is winning and looking good.

It won’t matter if Khan has faced good opposition leading up to that fight. The casual fans will jump on the bandwagon and get excited about his comeback nonetheless and will gladly purchase his fight against Brook. That’s the fight where we could see Khan implode if he’s not fully back to where he was before earlier in his career. Khan’s main problems in his career haven’t had to do with ring rust and his stamina. Khan’s main flaws in his game haven’t had to do with his conditioning. Khan’s punch resistance has been the real problem for him. He’s failed in getting knocked out by big punchers in Danny Garcia, Briedis Prescott and Saul Canelo Alvarez. There was 8 years that separated Khan’s stoppage loss to Canelo in 2016 and his KO loss to Prescott in 2008. The huge separation in time suggests that Khan’s chin problems are a continuing thing that isn’t getting better over time. That means that we’re very likely going to continue to see Khan’s chin fail him when he resumes his career in 2018. Some fighters aren’t able to take big shots to the head without getting knocked out. That’s just the way it is unfortunately. If the fighters are smart like Wladimir Klitschko was, they work around their chin issues by coming up with ways to minimize the amount of head trauma they experience in their fights by using movement, fighting on the outside and clinching frequently. Khan has used a lot of those strategies in the last 3 years of his career since his knockout loss to Danny Garcia. However, Khan was still knocked out in his fight against Canelo despite his efforts to keep from getting hit. Khan made a mistake in the Canelo fight by throwing a weak jab with no authority on it. Canelo was then able to counter Khan with a right to the head that he never saw coming. The punch leveled Khan in putting him flat on his back on the canvas. Khan could have avoided the knockout if he’d snapped his jab off with power and speed instead of throwing a limp shot at Canelo.

Khan needs to use his first 2 fights in 2018 to improve on the flaws in his game that has seen him get knocked out in the past. Fixing those flaws will mean that he needs to use all of these things:

• Avoid throwing sustained combinations

• Don’t throw wide left hooks

• Move frequently

• Jab

• Clinch to avoid being pressured

• Don’t lose concentration

The worst thing that Khan’s promoter Eddie Hearn can do is put him in with stiffs in his first 2 fights of his comeback. Khan won’t be able to improve his game if he’s matched against horrible opposition in his first 2 fights in 2018. If Khan is to have any kind of chance of beating Kell Brook, Thurman, Spence, Horn and Terence Crawford, he’s going to need to be matched against good enough opposition in his first 2 fights this year for him to improve his game. Khan has excellent assets with his hand speed and overall boxing skills. However, his chin problems make him vulnerable, and this allows his opponents to head hunt and look to flatten him with a single shot.

If you at Khan’s recent opponents, they’ve been willing to give away rounds while looking for one big shot. The drama that Khan brings to his fights makes it interesting for his boxing fans, but he’s been too vulnerable for him to have any kind of sustained success with his career. Khan needs to be smart at all times to prevent the likes of Brook, Thurman and Spence to look for one big shot to try and KO him. If Khan can button down his defense, he’ll leave those guys with very few chances of knocking him out. Without them being able to hurt Khan, they’ll have to try and beat him the hard way by going the full 12 round distance to get the win. Khan is not easy to beat by a decision. Only one of his opponents in his 13-year pro career has been able to beat him by a decision, and that was a controversial 12 round split decision victory by Lamont Peterson in 2011.

Khan has the advantage of hindsight in looking at the mistakes that he’s made in his career. He knows fully what has worked for him in the past and what hasn’t. If Khan can make some minor changes to his game to be more of a pure boxer, he might be able to resurrect his career to turn into the superstar that many thought he would be when he turned pro in 2005. The odds are stacked against Khan being able to turn things around, but it’s not impossible if he’s scientific about his career, and if he’s dedicated to fixing his mistakes.