By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) has put a different spin on his 1st round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in September 2008, saying it’s a good thing instead of a negative and giving it credit for where he is today as the World Boxing Association light welterweight champion.
Khan had this to say in an article at Ringtv.com: “If that didn’t happen, I don’t think I’d be in this position [to be fighting WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) on December 11th]. Things happen for a reason. I want to thank Prescott for that.” Khan could better thank Prescott if he’d at least try to avenge the defeat to him.
Here’s my take on the outcome of Khan’s loss to Prescott: After the defeat to Prescott, Khan has been softly matched against light punchers for the past five fights, beating Oisin Fagan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Andriy Kotelnik, Dmitri Salita and Paulie Malignaggi. All of those fighters have something in common and that’s a lack of power.
So, I think Khan is partially where he is today because of the loss to Prescott, but only because Khan has been more skillfully maneuvered to avoid big punchers until now. Had Khan taken on Prescott in a rematch, my guess is Khan would be viciously knocked out once again. And if Khan had been matched against fighters like Maidana, Victor Ortiz, Timothy Bradley, and Devon Alexander, I think he would have suffered additional losses.
I think Maidana is going to be a nightmare bout for Khan where he finds himself right back where he was when he went up against Prescott. There are fighters that Khan can beat, but Maidana isn’t one of them because of his huge power.
Khan thinks his chin has gotten better now that he’s moved up in weight. Khan says “I’m sparring with guys who weigh 154 pounds and no one has ever touched me. The only time I had problems was when I was killing myself to make 135 pounds. When you kill yourself to make weight, it does make you quite vulnerable. When I spar at my natural weight, which is 145 pounds walking around, I’m ok. No one can touch me.”
The question is who is Khan sparring with and how big are the gloves that his sparring partners wearing? Also, is he wearing head gear during the sparring sessions? I think Khan is kidding himself if he thinks his chin has gotten better. It doesn’t get better. It only gets worse.
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