By Steven Pink: On the verge of challenging for his first world title in June Amir Khan finds himself standing at something of a stylistic crossroads. The carefree seventeen year old who captured the hearts of a nation at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the streaking prospect who raced to eighteen straight professional wins was a come forward fighter, willing to enter punching range in order to punish his opponent.
Amir’s commitment to attack and his propensity to unload the flashy combinations that have garnered him such a following in the UK were the twin factors that underpinned his vulnerability as a boxer. Following Khan’s emigration to America and his adoption by Freddie Roach, we have seen a somewhat more reticent fighter emerge. The combination punching and speed remain, yet this new model Khan appears more concerned with avoiding punishment than dishing out his own.
That this stylistic reappraisal, four years into his professional career, has come about as a result of the violently shocking and brutally conclusive knockout he suffered last year at the hands of Colombian banger Breidis Prescott, 21-0 (18), is inarguable. Khan’s pretensions to top level readiness were not so much mocked by Prescott as spat on and trodden contemptuously into the canvas. Khan was down twice and eventually counted out after only fifty-four seconds. It was the sort of knockout that no prospect can really afford to suffer, especially with their career in its relative infancy. The image of a bemused and semi-conscious Khan pathetically attempting to rise from the fight ending second knockdown will linger long in the mind. He was not so much stopped as demolished. The face of his manager Frank Warren, in the minutes after the fight was stopped, was a picture. He looked like the man who had unwittingly offered free run of the coop housing his prized golden goose to a particularly rapacious fox.
Khan’s punch resistance, already considered suspect after knockdowns against Willie Limond and Michael Gomez, was placed under the spotlight like never before. The clamorous cries of the critics who claimed his chin featured more than a little porcelain became more vociferous by the day. Indeed the volume of criticism that the Sheffield youngster has been subjected to has clearly shocked both the fighter and his management team. Khan´s opponents have been lampooned, his progress mocked and his future hopes subjected to harsh critical appraisal. The aftermath of the fight, which was Khan´s first under Cuban trainer Jorge Rubio, has featured bitter recrimination (which quickly led to the trainer’s dismissal) and reflective soul searching in equal measure.
Khan, a likeable and honest young man, took the defeat philosophically, rationalising his performance as a bad day at the office. He held up his hands to his mistakes, apologising for his needlessly reckless approach, attacking with hands held low against a man whose record suggested he be handled with kid gloves in the early going. The most pertinent question arising from the entire debacle was what could be done to set the ship right again? It turns out that the answer was to relocate Khan to Los Angeles, where he would train at the famous Wild Card Gym under the tutelage of boxing seer Freddie Roach. That Roach would take Khan under his wing and speak so positively about his future prospects is a great feather in the youngster’s cap. His confidence, surely so severely dented by the traumatic defeat to Prescott, can only have been massaged by Roach’s panegyric eulogising.
In the six months that Khan has worked with the American a transformation in the twenty-two year old Englishman’s fistic approach has been effected. Roach has worked on maximising Khan´s punching distance, polishing and tightening his jab and working on his lateral movement. Jumping right on Prescott precipitated his downfall and it appears as if Khan has been chanting Roach’s hit, move, hands up mantra in the manner of a novice Buddhist initiate every day since. Against Oisin Fagan and a clearly jaded Marco Antonio Barrera, Khan used his jab, maintained his distance on the outside and patiently worked for openings. When the opportunity presented itself we were witness to the blinding speed and eye-catching punch variety that marked him out as a potential superstar in the first place. However, looking closer a sharp-eyed observer may have discerned a more cautious reticence to Khan’s approach. Amir fought as if he didn’t believe he could afford to take a flush blow, so fresh did the scars of the Prescott defeat appear to be.
Yet now, only eight months after his title plans appeared to have been so crushingly derailed, Khan finds himself preparing to face Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik, 31-2-1 (13), for the WBA Light-Welterweight crown. Khan has spent the recent weeks talking up his chance and the British press appears to have rediscovered their enthusiasm for his talents. Khan’s performance against the thirty-five year old Barrera appears to have won over many of his former critics. Khan was poised, patient and methodical on the night, timing the Mexican’s rushes and countering with accuracy and precision. What must be added by way of a caveat was that from the second round onwards Barrera fought through a veritable tide of his own blood; which clearly forced him to deviate from his game plan and hindered his chances of pinning down his elusive and mobile opponent. Khan was exultant after the win, clearly proud of putting his trainer’s game plan into action and happy to have taken the scalp of a legend, despite how far Barrera (fighting at a career high 135 pounds) appeared to have slipped.
Recent boxing history has thrown up a number of interesting examples of fighters who reassessed their approach either following crushing stoppage losses or an eye opening near disaster. Wladimir Klitschko appeared to be heading for the scrap heap following stoppages against Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster. In came Emmanuel Stewart and out went the recklessness that had hitherto signposted the way to the giant Ukrainian’s fragile chin. Stewart (as Roach hopes to do with Khan) taught Wladimir to utilise his peerless jab, encouraged him to use his 245 pound frame to clinch when pressed at close range and most importantly schooled the 6’7’’ fighter to exploit the prodigious advantages in height and reach that he enjoys over almost all of his opponents. That Klitschko currently reigns as the IBF/WBO Heavyweight king is testament to the success of their joint experiment.
Hector Camacho did not even wait to suffer a crushing defeat before permanently adapting his style. The “Macho Man” who had thrilled his way to titles at both 130 and 135 pounds underwent something of a Damascene conversion following his bout with the hard hitting Puerto Rican Edwin Rosario. Camacho’s epiphany came in the form of Rosario’s left hook, which rocked the hitherto brash and confident fighter to the soles of his boots. Following that fight Camacho underwent a fistic transfiguration, becoming almost the ideal template of the elusive hit and move boxer. He would go on to win a number of further championship fights but his style was essentially unexciting and the place at the very top of the sport that he had looked certain to attain eluded him.
Conversely former Light-Middleweight ruler Terry Norris, roared back from a potentially devastating career setback at the hands of Julian Jackson by continuing to adopt the exhilarating, punches in bunches style that both thrilled the fans and brought him a slew of exciting knockout wins. His approach, coupled with his questionable ability to take a punch did lead to further knockouts against the likes of Simon Brown and Keith Mullings. However, in choosing to apply the hit first worry later dynamic Norris cemented a place as one of the most exciting and entertaining fighters of his era.
That Khan is willing to attempt a transformation of his style and, as a result, improve his future chances of remaining competitive in the talent filled environment that exists between 135-140 pounds is a testament to his humility and his willingness to listen and learn. However, in the pay-per-view goldfish bowl that is modern boxing he might do well to consider how his stylistic about turn could affect the perceptions of his fan base as well as his overall marketability. A Khan who wins fights off the back foot, minimising exchanges, one who patiently waits for openings to capitalise on his opponent’s errors may well draw the plaudits of the knowledgeable boxing fan but will it help him to accrue the support that more crowd pleasing battlers enjoy? Some might argue that a win is a win and that the end always justifies the means should your hand continue to be raised in victory. I just wonder whether this will be enough for Amir.
The Sheffield man is a fighter at heart. His instinct is to punch, to entertain. Witness the way he jumped on Prescott, despite having spent months working under the watchful eye of Rubio, a doyen of the Cuban amateur boxing scene. Would so renowned a defensive specialist have advocated such a reckless approach? Was Amir simply unable to assimilate the alien tactics? Floyd Mayweather was singularly unable to transform the gladiatorial tendencies of Khan’s countryman Ricky Hatton and it remains to be seen if Roach’s modifications can become more firmly imprinted on Khan. What is certain is that at some point Amir Khan will be hit and hit hard by an opponent much more capable of hurting him than the relatively feather fisted Kotelnik (only 13 stoppage wins in 34 fights). No amount of stylistic tinkering can prevent this. Should he continue down the road of cultivating elusiveness above all else it is conceivable that his fighters instinct could eventually atrophy, leaving him with no viable back up plan in times of adversity.
The future is filled with exciting possibilities for this British youngster. At twenty-two he surely has many years ahead of him in the sport. How he looks back on his career when his fighting days are over may well be determined by the approach he resolves upon over the coming months. Will he choose to follow in the footsteps of Klitschko or Norris? We will have to pay our money, tune in and find out.
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