Would it be a shock if Khan is destroyed by his first real good opponent

By Boxing News - 12/07/2009 - Comments

khan5556By Michael Lieberman: I’ve always been rather curious when I see a fighter that is being pumped up by the media and seen as the next big thing. WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KO’s) seems to be the latest flavor of the week with his 1st round TKO victory over Dmitriy Salita on December 5th. It wasn’t much of a fight. Salita came out looking both scared and slow on his feet and was promptly dropped by the first combination that Khan threw. No one has ever questioned Khan’s offensive abilities.

He’s a rather superb fighter offensively, and maybe the best in the entire light welterweight division in that department. If that was all there was to boxing, you would think that Khan is unbeatable. However, in the other areas of his game, such as defense and chin, Khan is very beatable. We don’t know how good Khan is right now, because he really hasn’t fought anyone other than Breidis Prescott.

The other fighters that have been served up to Khan have been infinitely beatable and no real test of Khan’s talent. But I wouldn’t be the least surprised if Khan is destroyed by the first real threat they put him in with. We’ve already seen what happens to Khan when he faces a good puncher like Prescott. Khan says that he made a mistake against Prescott, that he’d beat him in a rematch. So far, we haven’t seen that rematch and I’m not holding my breath for it to happen.

I think it’s safe to say that Khan will never fight Prescott again. This leaves it to other fighters in the light welterweight division to give us an idea of whether Khan is a glass jawed hype job or a real genuine star. It’s hard to tell what Khan is right now, because he hasn’t exactly jumped all over the lightweight or the light welterweight top rung opposition.

Khan’s supporters point to Khan’s age, saying that he’s only 22, and that he shouldn’t be expected to take on top fighters at his age. Okay, I’ll buy that, but how precisely will Khan be kept away from top fighters when he’s the World Boxing Association light welterweight champion? How does that work out? I mean sooner or later Khan will have to fight a good opponent, right?

He can’t keep pulling Salita out of his back pocket to fight. There’s some real fighters in the light welterweight division that Khan will have to fight sooner or later unless he plans on vacating his title. Marcos Maidana, the WBA interim champion, is one example. I don’t know how long Khan can go by without fighting him, but I see this guy as someone that won’t go away by ignoring him. And I have doubts whether Khan will be better able to take his big shots in the future.

A chin doesn’t get better with age. On the contrary, fighters with weak chins tend to downhill as the age. What happens when Khan has to fight Maidana in a year or possibly two? I don’t know how Khan could get away with avoiding Maidana for that long, but if he somehow is able to, the problem doesn’t get any easier. Khan will still have to have the chin to take Maidana’s big shots. Avoiding him or other big punchers like Prescott or Victor Ortiz won’t make the problem go away. Let’s face it: If Khan doesn’t have the chin for the sport, he’ll last only as long as he can step around and avoid the big punchers in boxing.



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