By Dave Lahr: Normally, I wouldn’t advise two otherwise quality fighters to retire after a loss, but in this case one of them definitely needs to hang the gloves permanently. Heck, even with a win in this fight, the victor has a huge uphill climb if they ever want to win a title in the future. With two losses in his last four fights, it’s doubtful that Barrera, now thirty-five, can accomplish much other than landing another title shot against Juan Manuel Marquez, and, of course, lose badly as Barrera did two years ago in 2007 when he lost by a 12-round decision.
Khan, 22, a silver medal winner in the 2004 Olympics, doesn’t appear to have the chin for the business even if he can somehow get past Barrera on the 14th. Khan was stretched in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott in September 2008, getting knocked down twice before the fight was eventually stopped.
A win for Khan would likely put him in against a veteran like Marquez, who with his talent and power, he’d likely obliterate Khan almost as easily as Prescott did. At that point, Khan would be exactly where he would be if he loses to Barrera on March 14th, having to answer questions about what he wants to accomplish with his career. Neither of these fighters is heading too much further if you ask me.
Sure, Khan can stick around the sport for awhile longer due to his youth, speed and skills, but his chin will surely betray him when he’s forced to step it up against a top fighter like Marquez or Ali Funeka. When that time comes, Khan will lose and lose big.
His trainer Freddie Roach and then attempt to put him together again but eventually, he’d going to realize it’s a lost cause and probably step down, allowing Khan to finish his career as a fighter limited to facing only soft British competition rather than top level world talent.
Indeed, those are the type of fighters that Khan should really be fighting because his loss to Prescott, including his knockdowns against other fighters like Willie Limond, Michel Gomez and Rachid Drilzane, suggests that Khan doesn’t have the chin to be facing top flight competition.
Sticking around for a few years against the softer fighters in the British ranks, Khan may still be able to make a nice living in over there in the same way that Joe Calzaghe was able to. Ideally, Khan could win one of the belts like the BBC of C titles, and hold onto it for ages, every now and then stepping it up against top world competition and of course getting slapped down as easy as he was against Prescott.
He could make good money, despite never matching up to the potential that was predicted for him by some after the Olympics. However, if he loses to Barrera, especially by knockout, then he really needs to consider retiring because Barrera is far past his prime at 35 and doesn’t have much power for a lightweight, a level above his former weight of super featherweight.
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