By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz (40-7-1, 29 KO’s) doesn’t see any other way of beating Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) on April 27th other than to knock him out in their fight at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Diaz, 33, lives in the United States and he’ll be the visiting fighter when he faces Khan in the UK in front of what will likely be a sold out Motorpoint Arena filled with nothing but Khan fans from top to bottom.
Diaz said to thesun.co.uk “I know the knockout is the only thing that will get me the win, so I’m training extra hard already in order to get a victory on Khan’s home turf. I’m not going to England for the fight to go to the scorecards. I’m fighting for the knockout.”
That’s a wise decision by Diaz because he unfortunately may need a knockout in order to win the fight because we’ve seen visiting fighters have problems when it comes to fights that go to the cards over there.
Diaz isn’t a big puncher, though, but he feels he’ll have more than enough to KO the weak-chinned Khan. Diaz has been knocking out most of his opposition recently, so that’s a good sign going into the Khan fight. In the last few years, Diaz has stopped Henry Aurad, Hector Sanchez, and Pavel Miranda.
Granted, those guys aren’t exactly what you can call household names, but I’m sure there chins were on par with Khan’s. They didn’t have Khan’s hand speed, but I’m sure their chins are no worse than Khan’s chin.
Khan was knocked out just two fights ago by Danny Garcia. Khan won his last fight against lightweight Carlos Molina, and now he’s facing a slight step up from Molina in dealing with Diaz.
Khan is obviously favored because Diaz has been picked out from the 2nd tier of the welterweight division for this fight, but just him being a welterweight and experienced fighter, he has a chance of winning this fight. Diaz in his prime was a superb fighter, and he’s not that far removed from his best years seven years ago.
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