By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) has been excited about his trip to the Philippines to train with Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao. Khan had been talking about how much he was looking forward to sparring with Pacquiao, and wanted to gauge whether he’s improved since the last time he sparred Pacquiao two years ago shortly after Khan was knocked out viciously in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott in 2008.
During the sparring session that Khan had with Pacquiao, it looked like Pacquiao was taking it easy on him and not trying to put a lot of pressure on him or load up with his shots. Khan, however, seemed to be under the impression that he was getting Pacquiao at 100%.
Now, it looks like Khan won’t get the chance to spar at all with Pacquiao, because strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza said that Khan and Pacquiao won’t be sparring, according to an article by Ronnie Nathanielsz at www.inquirer.net.
Ariza said “they are fighting two different guys with different styles.” Ouch, that’s got to hurt Khan. He was totally up for the sparring, and now it looks like Khan traveled all the way to the Philippines just to go on long runs with Pacquiao, get left in the dust, and not much else. It hardly seems worth the trip if you ask me.
Khan will be facing Marcos Maidana on December 11th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan needs a fierce sparring partner that can mimic the kind of heavy pressure that Maidana will be putting on him in that bout. Pacquiao would have been perfect in that regard, but his hand speed would have made him a much different fighter than Maidana.
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