By Ashley King: After what I feel was a successful first article, I have been requested to do an unbiased report on Amir Khan. I will say before writing I have a personal reason to dislike the man, as he was being billed the top am in Britain but wouldn’t box a man from my club who had similar credentials to him. But I will set aside these items of dislike, to write a report on one of Britain’s current world champions.

Amir Khan went pro after the world saw him take a silver medal in the Olympic Games in 2004 signing up with Frank Warren. From then on he climbed his way up the ranks taking the commonwealth title before taking a devastating knockout loss to Breidis Prescott. He then had two more fights before winning the WBA light welterweight title from Andreas Kotelnik, since having two successful defenses of it, the recent being an 11th round stoppage last week against Paulie Malignaggi.

A popular saying around boxing fans nowadays is that Amir Khan is a ducker and takes the easiest fights out there. I’ve honestly got say I totally disagree with this. Usually pro’s on the way to stardom take about 15 fights before taking on people with good records or average level. But in just Khans 5th fight he took on a 10-1 fighter, and hasn’t boxed somebody with what you could call a bad record since. That is not what you call ducking in my opinion, but of course the ducking jibes have come recently rather than in his earlier days. He took on what many people called the weakest champion out there in Andreas Kotelnik and I would have to agree that he was the worst champion out there but he beat him convincingly. Kotelnik is by no means a slouch though, or half as bad as people say – he had beaten the main person everyone says Khan is ducking in Marcos Maidana by a close points win which I did have him winning even though some dispute it.

And then there’s the biggest Jibe against Khan – the glass jaw. Everybody who follows Khan have seen him been hurt and put down by ordinary fighters and then knocked out in brutal fashion against a very big puncher in Breidis Prescott. Before meeting up with Roach, Amir loved to go out and instead of bang try and trade punches before his opponent – or he, went down. It was obvious that something needed to be done about this and since the KO loss Khan has had 5 bouts, and I think its extra ordinary that nobody knows of his chin since. He fights with a high guard, doesn’t drop his hands and now boxes his opponents instead of trying to bang them and get them out of there. Freddie has totally transformed Khan and made him look so much better, he barely gets hit nowadays.

And that’s not to say that he can’t bang himself, with 3 of his last wins coming via stoppage. Although two was against not top level fighters, it was still impressive to see Khan box forward then blow them away with his long ranged shots, instead of wildly swinging and throwing punches in close. He has long arms and that’s were his power is – long range. He hits hard which was evident in Paulie Malignaggi’s face, who had only been stopped against fellow Brit Ricky Hatton before, and that was a corner stoppage not a referee stoppage.

But Khans main talent lies within his speed. He uses this well in his new defence, as he hits his opponent usually multiple times before even having to move out of the way of a shot coming back. He works his opponents well this way and his razor sharp jab gets in there very quick and strong – In his last fight how good Khans jab was very evident as it landed and jolted Paulie’s head back nearly every time he threw it. He showed a lot to me in that last fight, and impressed me a lot.

After that fight he said in his interview that he’s interested in Maidana next, which would be good for the doubter’s to watch, and to see if Khan can handle a puncher. Honestly I think Khan could beat Maidana, I don’t rate Maidana’s boxing skills much and think he’s only a banger. I think to beat Khan you need to have boxing skills along with very good speed and then some power to keep him at bay, and I don’t see Marcos being well rounded enough to beat Khan.

However – there is Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley. Two very good opponents who are almost certainly in Amir’s future, and they are very well rounded guys. This is where Khans next real test’s lie and I’m really unsure of these Match-up’s. I think Bradley is the better of two and Khan would have a bigger test there than with Devon. Khan suggested him to fight Maidana and the two listed above to face off which is a great idea, but the thing is Devon and Timothy are a little hesitant it seems to face off. I think the sooner that gets underway the sooner we can have a unified division.

Overall, I really do rate Khan. I think he’s close to having the whole package of a great fighter, and I see him doing very well for himself in the future. As long as he keeps focused and going down the path he’s going now, there doesn’t seem to be a person that can beat him if he carries on like this. He does have super-stardom ready for him to take and I think he will go all the way in this division anyway.

Thanks for reading, more feedback is needed for my writing skills to increase, thanks a bunch.