By John F. McKenna (McJack): Former WBA/IBF light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) needs to mature as a fighter before he can even think about achieving the goals he has set for himself.

In his recent loss to WBC/WBA and The Ring light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (24-0, 15 KO’s), Amir failed to heed the advice of famed trainer Freddy Roach and wound up paying the price. Roach had warned Khan not to engage in a slugfest with Garcia, but instead use his amazing speed and boxing skill to slowly break his opponent down.

The results were somewhat predictable. After winning the first two rounds with relative ease Danny started to time his opponent hoping to catch him coming in. Garcia’s fight plan worked to perfection as he ultimately nailed Khan with the punch that proved to be his undoing in the 3rd round. And while Amir bravely attempted to fight on it became clear that he never recovered from the first knockdown.

In his loss last December to IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) Khan also decided not to follow Roach’s advice of not getting caught on the ropes. It was another fight that Amir was heavily favored to win. Instead of listening to his trainer however Khan decided to go macho and trade with Peterson. And while the fight was fraught with controversy and could have gone either way, Amir wound up losing not only the fight, but his WBA and IBF title belts.

The bottom line is that Khan should not have lost either the Peterson or Garcia fights. He had the skills to defeat both fighters if he had only followed the blueprint and the game plan laid out for him by Roach.

Following his loss to Garcia, Khan started making excuses. While mouthing the words that he was accepting responsibility for his loss he seemed to be partially blaming Roach. He intimated that he was not getting Roach’s full attention and that there was too much travel time involved. Clearly he was taking a shot at Roach whose top responsibility as a trainer is Manny Pacquiao.

But the reason Khan lost both to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia lies solely on his own shoulders. It must be infuriating for a trainer to read comments in the press by a fighter who has lost two fights in a row and seems to blaming the trainer for his losses. It’s doubly infuriating when that same fighter failed to follow his trainer’s instructions.

Amir Khan is a gifted fighter who just a year ago seemed to be on his way to superstar status as a fighter. The one thing he lacks is maturity as a fighter.