By Sean McDaniel: Lightweight Amir Khan’s fight March 14th fight with seven-time world champion Marco Antonio Barrera is selling incredibly well, fans already having purchased two-thirds of the 20,000 tickets in just a few days for the that’s to take place at the M.E.N. Arena in Lancashire. It’s rather surprising given Khan’s disastrous failure in losing a by a 1st round knockout to Breidis Prescott on September 6th, 2008.
Khan remains highly popular with many fans, even though he’s been dropped down in the boxing rankings and dismissed by many experts in the sport. It could be that fans are hoping that the former Olympic Silver medalist from the 2004 games can turn things around with his once promising career.
Khan’s opponent, the 35-year-old Barrera, would appear to be potentially tough one since Amir has faced largely soft opposition in England since turning professional in 2005. There’s an impulse to say that something is wrong here. And there well may be. If Khan is getting beaten like a top by a green fighter like Prescott, it perhaps isn’t the brightest move to stick Khan in with a fighter as experienced and as tough as Barrera so soon after Amir’s knockout.
It seems almost incredible to believe that Khan would be thrown to the wolves almost immediately. But then again this may not be the same Barrera that holds victories over Erik Morales, Rocky Juarez, Mzonke Fana, Robbie Peden, Paulie Ayala, Naseem Hamed, Kevin Kelley and Johnny Tapia, among many others.
Based on reports, Barrera has slowed down significantly in the past two years and isn’t on the level he was when he defeated Morales in 2004. For Khan’s sake, one would hope that the reports are correct. If Barrera looks as good as he did against Juarez in 2006, I see Khan getting knocked out again.
A couple advantages that Khan has going for him is that he’ll have the size and speed advantage over the 5’6” Barrera, whom has fought most of his career as a super bantamweight, some 13 pounds lighter than lightweight Khan. Barrera since moved up to the super featherweight division in 2004, but only was able to score one knockout in four years at that weight until recently moving up to the lightweight division in 2008.
Khan may end up being too strong for Barrera, which could make up for Khan’s lack of experience, talent and his glass chin. However, Barrera probably can punch hard enough to take Khan out if Amir gets in front of him trying to impress the large audience. In that case, I would put my money on Barrera to take Khan out.
It all depends on Khan. If he’s smart and can contain his emotions and not try to trade shots with Barrera, he can possibly win this fight without getting dropped. But if he gets overconfident like he did with Prescott, I find it hard seeing a good result for him. He might do well for five or six rounds and think the fight is in the bag and try to trade shots with Barrera at close range, and end up getting hit with something big from the Mexican and taken out.
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