By Mohammed Nasir: Many people, some on this website, are obsessed with Amir Khan. Love him or hate him, he is one of the hottest commodities in boxing today. Any promotional company including Top Rank and Mayweather Promotions would love to have him on their books for this very reason.

The obsession is not always coming from a good place though and over the past 2 years, ever since he stepped up to the world stage, the criticisms of this young Champion have become increasingly absurd. In this article I will cover the legitimate criticisms and just for fun some of the nonsense people say with a straight face.

After being knocked down and buckled by domestic level opposition and then ko’d brutally in under one minute by the then undefeated but unknown Breidis Prescott, many felt that Khan’s bubble had popped and that there was no way back for the pride of Bolton. For all his popularity and hype, at the time Khan was still very much untested and showed too much vulnerability for anyone to confidently say he would win a world title at lightweight. In fact many doubted he would be able to show the chin and heart needed to succeed at any level as a pro (including famously Carl Froch).

In 2011, the fact is Khan has proven those critics wrong. Not only has he bounced back but in the 3 years since the loss Khan exceeded all reasonable expectations and is today the unified light welterweight champion of the world. It seems moving to LA to join the Wildcard gym and the move up in weight made all the difference. The genuine questions about Khans ability to compete at world level for most reasonable fight fans have now been answered. Yes he can.

But a small group of keyboard warriors say:

He is just a protected fighter: I would argue that Khan’s progression in the sport has been faster than most. He turned pro in 2005 and was facing some of the best in England within 2 years and fought for a world title within 4 years. Roy Jones Junior was a pro for 5 years before fighting for a world title. Other greats like Joe Calzaghe, Juan Manuel Marquez and Sergio Martinez at the same point in their careers were nothing in the sport and were not even known to the public in their respective countries much less the world. And none of them were champions in the time frame that Khan did it in. For me the term protected fighter applies to guys like Sven Ottke, who never leave their home town and are in fact reliant on home town decisions in a number of fights that they should have lost.

He is too cocky: This is obviously a very silly thing to hold against someone you have never met, in particularly a boxer. Every fighter tells themselves they are better than the guy they are about to face. If not what is the point in fighting? I have personally met Amir on more than one occasion. He is as down to earth as they come and will always go out of his way to make sure you are comfortable. Remarkable considering he made his first million before he was 18 and is currently well on the way to becoming a superstar in the sport.

Why is he always calling out x? How dare he!: Recently Amir has been calling out Floyd Mayweather Jr and many people jumped all over him. How is Amir saying he has a shot against Floyd crazier than Floyd saying he is better than Ray Robinson? Or Muhammad Ali? Also how can you criticize Amir for avoiding the best and being protected and then when he calls out the best, hammer him all over again? We all know Mayweather is the P4P king and the prospect of his scalp on your record is something many fighters dream about. Let me put it this way, Khan is more deserving of a shot at Mayweather than Ortiz is or was.

He hasn’t beaten x,y,z: A prolific writer on this site who dedicates 90% of his ‘articles’ to hating on Khan recently wrote: ‘[Khan has to beat] Bradley, Soto, Garcia, Olusegun, Alvarado, Matthysse’ and have rematches with Maidana and Precott before he can be no 1. This is in addition to the other guys Khan has beaten at 140. This made me laugh out loud. Apart from Bhop at middleweight, which other modern fighter has beaten the top 10 in their division? So we shouldn’t rate Wladimir because he is not fighting Vitali? Mayweather has not faced the 10 best in any of the 5 divisions he has won titles in, so we should not rate him? (The answer to both is obviously no).

He has never beaten anyone good: This is another point raised by the writer referred to above, even though before the Maidana fight he spent 10 months saying Khan would never have the stones to fight him and when the fight was signed 2 months saying Khan stood no chance and would be destroyed. Now Maidana is just a 1 dimensional fighter who was never any good to begin with. Ditto Zab Judah. This happens often but moving the goal posts like this is just unfair for obvious reasons.

How can a so called fight fan, who would clearly not last 1 minute with a punch bag let alone in the ring against the guys he speaks and writes so disrespectfully about, actually think he can credibly say that multiple time world champions are bums? I feel it is not only disrespectful to the modern day gladiators who put it all on the line for our entertainment but actually insulting to fellow fights fans who can appreciate good fighters.

Like it or not, the kid done good.