By William Mackay: Trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. feels that former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) is wasting his time with trainer Freddie Roach, and would be better off dumping him and going with with someone else for the job. Mayweather Sr. says he’d take over the training if Khan is interested.
Speaking with Checkhookboxing.com, Mayweather Sr said “[Khan] needs a change…because what he he is doing right now. it’s a joke. An that’s because Freddie Roach is in control.”
Khan has lost his last two fights, and he’s been knocked already twice as a pro. Khan left a previous trainer after getting knocked out in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott in 2008. Khan signed on Roach hoping it would turn his career around. It did for a while, although Khan really didn’t beat anyone particularly dangerous with the exception of Marcos Maidana in 2010, and there are a lot of boxing fans who felt that Khan would have been knocked out in that fight if it weren’t for the referee breaking the action when Khan was getting pummeled in the 10th.
Mayweather Sr continued “I could help him…if he wants to learn how to fight, learn defense, come see me. One call that’s all.”
It’s doubtful that Khan will make that call, however. Khan still hasn’t dumped Roach, and it could be that he’ll stick it out with Roach to see if things improve any. It’s easy to see why Khan might want to stay with Roach. His wildcard gym in Los Angeles is packed with popular fighters and celebrities, and Khan gets to spar with some of the top fighters in the game by being there. However, something isn’t working with the Khan-Roach team, whether that be Khan failing to follow Roach’s instructions during fights or Khan not being given the training know how that he needs. Who knows? Perhaps Khan has been taught the right things by Roach in how to defense himself, but he’s not able to apply it in his fights.
It would be interesting to see how Mayweather Sr and Khan would work out. I can’t see Khan being able to learn to defend himself enough to keep from getting knocked out again. Can you imagine seeing Khan use the shoulder roll? I can see a right hand sailing over that shoulder and landing clean to Khan’s head every time.
It might be too late in the game for Khan to learn from Mayweather Sr. Fighters need to start early with a trainer to grasp the things they’re to teach them. If you look at Khan’s fighting style, he looks like the same fighter he was when he first started training with Roach. It’s almost as if Khan hasn’t changed any part of his game even after three years with Roach.
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