Timothy Bradley – Can he defeat Amir Khan?

By Boxing News - 02/24/2011 - Comments

Image: Timothy Bradley – Can he defeat Amir Khan?By John F. McKenna (McJack): Timothy Bradley, AKA “Desert Storm” (27-0, 11 KO’s) may finally be getting his wish. Serious negotiations are underway for a July 23, 2011 showdown with Amir Khan, AKA “King Khan” (25-1, 17 KO’s). Bradley, who holds the WBC and WBO titles, won a unanimous technical decision over Devon Alexander on January 30, 2011, in a fight that did not come close to the pre fight media hype.

After repeated accidental head butts opened a cut over Alexander’s left eye, Devon let it be known to the referee that he had no intention of continuing the fight. The referee had no choice but to stop the fight. Since the head butts were considered to be accidental, the win was awarded to Bradley because he was ahead on the scorecards. The fight was generally acknowledged by the fans and boxing writers alike to be a real dud. It was marred by holding and numerous head butts. Although Bradley won the fight, he did not endear himself to boxing fans due to his lack luster performance. Bradley acknowledges that his fight with Alexander did not generate a lot of excitement and left a lot to be desired, but he refuses to take any of the responsibility, laying all the blame on Alexander. Bradley further stated that he does not believe Alexander could handle the pressure.

Even after his less than stellar performance against Alexander, Bradley feels that he can defeat Amir Khan. Bradley was quoted after his victory over Alexander as saying “Khan is probably #1 on my list now. I’ve got to take him out next. Then there will be no doubt as to who is the best 140 pounder is in the world.” Obviously Bradley has huge confidence in his ability to defeat Khan. This kind of talk is quite common for a fighter who stands to make Mega Bucks against a fighter who is something of a media darling in the boxing world. Despite being KO’d on September 6, 2008 at the hands of Breidis Prescott in the first round, Amir continues to be a media star. In the fight with Prescott, Khan was stunned with a left hook early in the opening moments of the fight and could not recover, suffering his first loss. After the loss to Prescott, Khan took on the great Freddie Roach as his trainer. Amir has benefited enormously from his alliance with Roach, which is also Manny Pacquiao’s trainer. The alliance with Roach has enabled Khan to spar with Pacquiao, who is generally acknowledged to be the best fighter in the world. Marcos Maidana, the knockout artist from Argentina, had this to say bout Khan after their December 11, 2010 fight in Las Vegas won by Khan. “He is a hell of a fighter. He is a great, skillful and fast boxer. And he proved that he can take a punch. He is a great champion.

Amir Khan at 5’10”, would have a decided height advantage over Bradley, who is 5’6”. Bradley is always in superb condition, is mentally tough and likes to turn his fights into brawls, which benefits him. When fighting Bradley, who is well known for his accidental butts, it is almost a foregone conclusion that any opponent he faces is going to come into contact with Bradley’s third fist, his dangerous, bald head. Freddie Roach, always the tactician and ring strategist, will undoubtedly work on how best to avoid the much shorter Bradley’s head. Khan obviously does not want to brawl with Bradley and will attempt to take advantage of his height, blazing hand speed and power shots. Bradley will undoubtedly move inside and try to rough up Khan. Roach will probably have Amir employ some of his own tactics to avoid Bradley’s head. This fight should be a whole lot more interesting than the Bradley – Alexander debacle.

Khan should not have too much trouble with Bradley. His blazing hand speed and pin point punches will in all probability be too much for Timothy to deal with. Khan, although not in his prime yet, seems to be getting better with each fight and has displayed power in his recent outings. If the July 23rd fight goes off as hoped, Amir will most likely add Bradley’s WBC and WBO titles to his WBA Light Welterweight Title.

Amir Khan will be returning to his home country of England on April 16th to put his title on the line against Ireland’s Paul McCloskey at the M.E.N. arena in Manchester. If that fight goes as expected, Khan will most likely face Bradley in J



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