By Chris Williams: Lightweight Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KOs) appears to have lost all his senses after his 5th round stoppage victory over ring great Marco Antonio Barrera on March 14th, a fight in which Barrera was cut badly from a heat butt in the 1st and had to struggle with sight in only his right eye until the fight was eventually stopped in the 5th.
According to the latest news, Khan now wants a rematch with Breidis Prescott, the Colombian one-punch knockout artist who destroyed Khan in a brutal 1st round TKO in September 2008. Khan doesn’t need to fight Prescott, because with Amir’s victory over the WBO number #1 ranked challenger, Khan is assured of a shot at this title or one of the other lightweight titles in 2008.
Yet, Khan still wants to fight Prescott before moving onto a world title shot. In doing that, if he’s allowed by his promoter Frank Warren, Khan would be risking everything in this fight. Khan has said repeatedly “I won’t make the same mistake again,” meaning, I suppose, he won’t go out and try to trade shots with Prescott in the opening round.
That’s all well and good, but it wasn’t a power shot that Prescott hurt Khan in the 1st round of their fight in September, it was nothing more than a simple jab. The punch, thrown in the opening seconds of the fight, staggered Khan and had his legs looking like jello. Khan didn’t help himself by trying to throw a wide hook at the same time that Prescott was throwing one of his own.
What happened next was that Khan was drilled to the canvas with a series of left hooks to the head. He got up and was knocked down again with more big hooks from Prescott. In looking back at that fight, I can’ see how Khan could ever beat Prescott.
Even if Amir elects to move around the fight, it’s not a fight that he will well in because Prescott will catch up to him sooner or later and when that happens, it’s all over. Prescott looked dangerous in his last fight, beating Humberto Toledo by a 10th round disqualification. He may not have gotten the knockout in that fight, but the shots that he was landing for the full 10 rounds were monstrous ones.
It would take a special fighter with a great chin to withstand those kinds of blows. Khan could run and try to jab against Prescott, but he’d catch up to him eventually and given him big problems. Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach seems to believe that Khan can beat Prescott.
Maybe he could if Amir fights the best possible fight of his life, runs for the full 10 rounds, clinches often and jabs continuously. I doubt he can do all of those things long enough without making a mistake and getting caught by Prescott.
The Colombian has really long arms and is able to cut off the ring remarkably well. Once he catches up to Khan, Amir will be forced to fight or else take a pounding.
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