By William Mackay: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) has reportedly selected Virgil Hunter as the replacement trainer to take the place of the outgoing Freddie Roach, who Khan opted to dismiss after he lost his last two fights against Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia.

Philboxing is reporting that Khan has selected the Oakland, California based Hunter to replace Roach.

Hunter is the trainer for WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward and has done a great job with turning him into arguably the best fighter in the super middleweight division. One of Ward’s best assets is his defensive skills. Khan obviously needs buckets full of help in the defensive side of his game so it’s not surprising in the least that he’s going with a proven player in that department in Hunter.

Choosing Hunter as his trainer doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s going to be able to do with Khan what he did with Ward, because these two guys are completely different. The only things they have in common is they are both ex-Olympians and both have fast hand speed. The similarities stop right there. Ward has a good chin, while Khan doesn’t.

Hunter has worked with Ward for many years since Ward was a hung kid in Oakland. Hunter didn’t just transform Ward into a great fighter in a year or two. It took years upon years to make Ward what he is today, and I’m not so certain that it’s possible for Hunter to make a lot of changes in Khan’s game.

Perhaps one area where I think Hunter might find progress with Khan is with his giving directions. Hunter is a no nonsense type of trainer and when he gives instructions in between rounds, he expects them to be followed. If Khan does what he pleases in his fights while failing to follow the directions of what Hunter is telling him, then is see some problems arising from this.

I think that’s a good thing because Freddie Roach never really jammed Khan up for the way he would deviate from what he was telling him do in between rounds. Maybe if Roach had been more forceful with Khan, he wouldn’t have lost those two recent fights. I expect Hunter to be direct and in Khan’s face if he blows off what Hunter is telling him to do.