Khan to meet with Roach to discuss training time

By Boxing News - 07/17/2012 - Comments

Image: Khan to meet with Roach to discuss training timeBy Chris Williams: Coming off a second consecutive defeat last Saturday night, Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) will be having a crucial meeting with his high profile trainer Freddie Roach to speak about trying to get him to spend more training time with him to improve Khan’s game.

It’s unclear what Khan will do if Roach is unable to give him what he wants, but it doesn’t take a genius to imagine that Khan may choose to cut his ties with Roach and go in another direction.

Speaking with the Dailystar.co.uk, Khan said “It’s hard when you are with Manny and have to be the No.2. Every fight is a big fight for me. I’m at the stage where I can make no more mistakes. I need to do things that benefit me and stop thinking about others, which is what I’ve been doing my entire life. In the end it’s me who gets in the ring.”

Khan may not like what he hears from Roach. There’s little chance that Roach is going to give up time for his No.1 fighter Pacquiao to spend more time with Khan, because of a couple of reason. Number 1, Pacquiao pays Roach big bank for each fight. Roach is the highest paid trainer in boxing courtesy of Pacquiao.

With Pacquiao coming off of a loss and likely just as needy as Khan, it’s improbable that Roach is going to give up time for the guy that’s giving him that good cash. The second reason is that Khan’s career is on the brink of failure, and I don’t know whether Roach is seeing this or not, but if you’ve got a choice of fighters you want to spend your time on, the natural inclination is to spend time on fighters that are going someplace in the sport.

Khan is teetering on the brink of being washed up. All it’ll take is one, possibly two more losses and you can bet things will start collapsing around him in terms of television deals and live gates. Who wants to see a guy that keeps getting beaten? Khan has lost his last two fights, and it could get much, much worse than that if his promoters want to continue to match Khan against world class fighters.

If I was Khan, I’d forget about giving Roach an ultimatum, which is what it sounds like he’s going to give Roach. I’d just dump him flat out, and send an e-mail or something. I’d then find someone like Floyd Mayweather Jr. that could teach me how to get out of the way of shots. There are other excellent defensive trainers besides him, but that’s what Khan needs – a good trainer who specializes on teaching the defensive side of the game. Khan then needs to follow everything they tell him to do to the letter, because he can’t be trying to brawl with his opponents. He’s already tried that and failed miserably in three fights. If he continues to do that in future fights, Khan will likely take additional losses.

I hate to say it but I don’t see Roach as a good defensive trainer. I think he’s good on the offensive side if he’s got a fighter that take some shots to make things happen, but if that fighter had a glass jaw then it’s a waste of time. Khan needs to cut his losses and move on as soon as possible before he finds himself up the creek without a paddle.



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