By Joe Met: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan gets a lot of criticism from some people, and as far as I can see, there really isn’t much to criticize in terms of boxing and his career.
First it was his chin. He got caught cold against a powerful puncher in Briedis Prescott, so there was every reason to suspect it might happen again when put in with another puncher. But he went and proved all the critics wrong by absorbing some crushing shots from Marcos Maidana without hitting the canvas, not even a knee, and winning 9 rounds out of 12 with a very impressive display of boxing, heart, and resilience. The ingredients required for the making of a champion, which Khan is, in case anyone has forgotten….a WORLD champion. Give him some respect. I’m sure Maidana will after feeling that nasty shot in the liver.

If the Bradley/Alexander fight is more your kind of thing that’s fine, at least Amir comes to fight unlike Alexander, and fight fairly, unlike Tim Bradley. Despite that poor fight, I still think these two are great fighters and that we shouldn’t judge them on that fight alone, it was clearly a bad fight for both of them, particularly Alexander, but I’m sure there is much better to come from both men in the future. Everybody has a stinker at some point.

But still the questioning of Khan’s credibility persists. Over zealous critics always seem to find some other small matter to use in an attempt to cast doubt over his ability, I have to assume that it has nothing to do with Amir as a boxer, and more to do with his nationality, because it isn’t just him, is it? It’s all of the British fighters and champions that seem to get a hard time compared to their American counterparts. Personally I think it has a lot to do with the swift decline that American boxing has seen over the past 10 years, It is an attitude that seems to be fuelled by bitterness and jealousy on the part of US fight fans.

Carl Froch for example. A two time world champion who will get in the ring with absolutely anyone in his division without a moments hesitation and stand toe to toe with them and go to war for our entertainment. Fight after fight he takes on the best in the division and will continue to do so, and for these reasons he deserves to be a world champion, and he deserves the respect of fight fans all over the world, not just in the UK. From a boxing fans point of view, I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t enjoy watching Carl fight.

David Haye, another British world champion is a controversial character, and not everybody’s cup of tea, but lets not forget he unified the cruiserweight division only 5 years after turning professional, then stepped up and took on the biggest heavyweight in history and took his title from him. But for some reason he gets no respect either, I can understand the frustration with regards to the Haye/Klitschko situation, but that doesn’t represent his entire career, and it would be pretty naive to suggest that it was ALL Hayes fault that the fight hasn’t happened, the Klitschko‘s and their team are notoriously difficult and demanding when it comes to making fights and negotiating terms.

Even past fighters come in for a drubbing, Ricky Hatton for example, a two-weight world champion who was 40-0 before he went in with the greatest boxer of his generation in Mayweather Jr. And then guess what….he did it AGAIN by going in with Manny Paqvcquiao a year later! What more could you ask from a fighter? No concern for retiring undefeated (like some people we know), he wanted to fight the best out there, and he did. And in the process he became one of the most past fighters the sport has ever seen. Try to forget about his life outside of the ring, the drinking and the weight gain, and remember instead that body shot that almost crippled Jose Luis Castillo, Or those 11 relentless rounds of sheer, un-bridled violence that sent Kosta Tszyu into retirement. If you can’t appreciate these things, then you surely aren’t a boxing fan.

I really can’t understand the bitterness towards the British fighters, is it not possible to appreciate the achievements of its champions regardless of their nationality?

American fighters dominated huge portions of the sports history, the golden heavyweight generations of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s in particular, created superstars like Ali, Frazier, foreman, Holmes and Tyson. They became household names right across the globe turning millions of people into boxing fans, even during the 90’s Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr, Evander Holyfield, James Toney and Oscar De La Hoya were huge names in the sport. American legends like Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, and Sugar Ray Leonard, regularly and rightly so, appear at the top of peoples all time greatest lists. American boxing has a rich and wonderful history and many of the most talented and successful fighters have been American. But Britain and the rest of the world have had their fair share of great fighters too, and this should be acknowledged.

Lennox Lewis dominated the heavyweight division for the first part of the 00 decade, and since his retirement Ukrainian brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko have had little competition to really test them. David Haye unified the cruiserweight titles. The super-middleweight and to a lesser extent light-heavyweight divisions saw Joe Calzaghe being the top man up until he retired undefeated. Light-welterweight king Ricky Hatton was only ever beaten by the best 2 P4P fighters on the planet and now Amir Khan is looking like the man to beat at that weight too. The lower weight divisions are always dominated by a mix of Asian and South American fighters. America doesn’t dominate the sport like it once did, but this is a good thing in that it brings interest in the sport from all over the world.

The latest criticism of Khan has been his failure to avenge his loss against Prescott, and weirdly to “avenge” his WIN against Maidana? (figure that one out if you can). But a rematch with Prescott is looking more likely than ever with Khan needing to fill the fight date ASAP, and wanting an opponent who is willing to travel to the UK so that the fight can go ahead in front of Khan’s home fans. I think he should make the fight, even though I don’t feel that Prescott deserves a shot at the title.

If Khan boxes like he did in the first 9 rounds of the Maidana fight he beats anyone in the 140lb division. Prescott isn’t even in the top ten.

But if it finally puts an end to the rubbish that is continually spewed about Khan being chinny, purely based on that one fight where he got caught cold by a lucky punch, then by all means get it on.
After the comprehensive beating that Khan dishes out should we expect the usual round of “Prescott was shot anyway”, “Khan got through by the skin of his teeth”, “lets see ANOTHER rematch” comments. And then when Khan unifies the division by taking Bradley’s belts, will he be criticized for moving up in weight, looking to take on Mayweather and going forwards with his career instead of going backwards and fighting Maidana again?

Whatever Khan does it seems, will never be enough. I guess some people just don’t like him because he’s British. It would be nice to see fighters getting judged on their ability, the quality of their opponents, and their achievements in the sport rather than people basing their biased views and comments on the fact that they are from another country. I think its pretty unfair and disrespectful to turn on the champions of a sport just out of jealousy because your own country’s fighters aren’t delivering the same results.