By William Mackay: Amir Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach has already given away the game plan for Khan’s rematch against IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson next month on May 19th by saying that Khan will stay off the ropes and fight in the center of the ring for the rematch.
Last time they fought last December, Khan spent some time – not a lot – on the ropes from time to time covering up and resting while Peterson would unload on him. Khan said he felt he could get away with this because Peterson didn’t hit hard. But by just covering up during his breathers, Khan was losing rounds because his body language looked bad in getting nailed with so many hard shots from Peterson.
Since Roach wants Khan to stay in the center of the ring moving all night long, it’s going to be a lot harder on Khan to fight in this manner without gassing out. He doesn’t have the stamina to move all night long without taking rest breaks. As such, Khan is going to need to be able to stand in one place and fight Peterson in the center of the ring to get a break from Khan’s likely constant movement around the ring. He can’t run for 12 rounds without getting extremely tired and losing rounds.
This is why Khan needs to have the chin and a fair tolerance for pain because he’s going to be getting hit a lot by Peterson, especially if he stays in one place and tries to fight it out with Peterson to try and win back his lost IBF and WBA titles. Peterson knows what Khan is going to do and is ready to take the fight to him to beat him a second time. Peterson wants to attack Khan because he knows exactly what to do to beat him after getting a win against Khan, who looked like he was in the full panic mode in the last three rounds of the fight.
It’s difficult to imagine Khan being able to stand and trade with Peterson for more than 5 to 10 seconds without panicking and dashing off again when he tastes some hard leather. Khan seems to hate to get hit and he does a variety of things to avoid it, such as running, shoving, pulling down on the heads of his opponents or grabbing them in a head-lock. Roach wants Khan to stay in the center of the ring but he’ll be badly exposed if he’s forced to fight there rather than running or covering up on the ropes in a clam-shell defensive posture. Khan is too vulnerable out in the open. He needs to run and use his defensive strategies – shoving, holding, pulling on the head and head-locks – to avoid taking vicious punishment.
Comments are closed.