By William Mackay: Trainer Freddie Roach thinks that his fighter WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) can be the next big star in boxing, but Roach end up having egg smeared all over his face if Khan is destroyed in his next fight against Marcos Maidana on December 11th, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vevas, Nevada. Roach says “Amir’s the next boxing super star,” in an article at Philstar.com. “He listens very well, like Manny [Pacquiao, Roach’s prized pupil]. He’s a good student. He’s got heart, speed, power and brains.” Roach may very well be right about most of those things, but what Khan may not have is a chin, and if he can’t take major shots, he won’t be boxing’s next super star.

I hate to break this to Roach, but Khan won’t make the grade if he keeps getting knocked out each time he faces a hard puncher. I know Roach can work wonders in matching up his fighters to keep them from facing dangerous threats, but sooner or later, Khan would have to face a big puncher and we’d be right back to where he was after he got knocked out by Breidis Prescott in 2008.

Khan has been able to be managed and maneuvered around a minefield of hard punchers for the past couple of years to win his last five fights, but once again Khan is facing the moment of truth and is looking at a big puncher again. This is so reminiscent of Enzo Maccarinelli, the way he was able to do really well against light punchers after having been stopped by a several hard hitters. Maccarinelli was able to succeed until he was finally put back in with a hard puncher in Alexander Frenkel and was destroyed in seven rounds.

We could be seeing the same exact thing happen with Khan. He’s done well being matched against five light hitters after his 1st round knockout loss to Prescott and now he’s back in with his first hard puncher in ages. It may not what Roach feels about Khan. If he can’t take a hard shot, then Roach is going to have to search far and wide for the next fighter for him to stamp with the “he’s the next boxing super star” label.”