Amir Khan: The Credit He Deserves

By Boxing News - 12/19/2010 - Comments

Image: Amir Khan: The Credit He DeservesBy Bradley Hastings: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan has taken some serious criticism throughout his short career, with not all of it justified. Even after his hearty performance against the heavy hitting Marcos Rene Maidana, it seems Khan still isn’t getting the credit he deserves from the press and critics alike.

Looking back to Khan’s performances early in his career, we could see the frailty and weakness within his overall game. Getting dropped to the canvas by the likes of Willie Limond didn’t do his cause much good , who with all due respect is not exactly a big puncher after only succeeding to knock out 8 of his 36 opponents. But Khan was only young and still learning his trade, which gave the boxing fans a good enough reason to turn a blind eye towards Khan’s weaknesses.

But once Khan was exposed by the explosive Breidis Prescott, those frailties began to look like a serious problem for his career, and with the UK press being as cynical as they are, Khan had a big fight on his hands, inside and outside of the ring. But luckily for Khan he had some optimistic people around him, and within 3 fights of his first defeat, Amir was picking up the WBA light welterweight championship of the world in a very mature fashion.

After a couple of solid defences of his first world title, Amir came up against his hardest challenge yet, the knock-out merchant Marcos Rene Maidana, and that test became a reality in the 10th round, where Khan was tagged with a serious right hook. Now lets not forget Maidana’s exceptional knock-out ratio here, a lot of light welterweights would not of been able to withstand not only the initial shot, but the additional punches Khan took whilst trying to recover. We have to give Freddie Roach and Alex Ariza credit for their outstanding work with khan. Moving up a weight and strengthening Khan’s lower body seriously improved his punch resistance without question, and on the opposite side of the scale, Khan also displayed his own power by dropping Maidana with a precise one-two combination to the body, leaving Marcos writhing in pain on the canvas.

Misled critics may disapprove of Khan’s punch and move tactics, but who seriously expects a quick, nimble and talented boxer like Amir Khan to start slugging with a thunderous puncher like Marcos Maidana? After all this is boxing, not street fighting, and Amir is certainly a talented boxer, and deserves a lot of credit for his achievements.



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