By John F. McKenna (McJack): Former WBA and IBF light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) has received a great deal of criticism over the last several months, particularly after his 4th round TKO loss to undefeated light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (24-0, 14 KO’s) in July.

It was just a year ago that highly respected five time trainer of the year Freddie Roach was singing the praises of Khan. Roach went so far as to predict that within 18 months “King Khan” would be the number #1 Pound for Pound fighter in the world. At the time many boxing pundits agreed with Roach. Amir to some extent had overcome the stigma of being KO’d in the first round by Briedis Prescott in September 2006. Following the loss to Prescott, Khan took on Roach as his new trainer.

Roach guided Khan to the WBA light welterweight title when he scored a unanimous decision win over Andreas Kotelnik in July 2009. In December 2010 Amir pounded out a unanimous decision win over the hard hitting Marcos Maidana. Boxing writers voted the Khan – Maidana match The Fight of The Year for 2010. Khan went on to win the IBF light welterweight title with a 5th round KO over veteran Zab Judah in July 2011.

Things started going south for Khan last December when he took on challenger Lamont Peterson. Amir was heavily favored to defeat Peterson when they fought in Lamont’s hometown of Washington, DC. Khan however decided to go macho by attempting to defeat Peterson at his own game. Defying Roach’s instructions of not allowing Peterson to trap him on the ropes Amir decided to do his own thing allowing Peterson to unleash a savage body attack.

By the time Khan began listening to Roach his energy was sapped and his punches lacked the authority they had in the earlier rounds. Peterson wound up winning a close hometown decision. But the fight should not have been that close. Khan’s stubbornness in refusing to listen to Roach cost him.

In July Amir attempted to redeem himself by taking on WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia. Once again Khan failed to follow Freddie Roach’s instructions. This time the result was catastrophic as Amir was TKO’d in the 4th round by Garcia after easily winning the first two rounds. Amir’s lack of maturity as a fighter cost him dearly. For the 2nd fight in a row Khan lost a fight that he should not have.

But instead of acknowledging his mistakes Khan wound up firing Roach as his trainer.
What has been especially galling to Roach is that Amir has been unloading on him in the press on a regular basis, seemingly blaming Freddie for his losses.

Going forward Amir Khan, if he is to be rehabilitated and get back to the championship level, must accept full responsibility for his mistakes and fix them. Khan’s most recent comments to the press suggest that he still blames his losses on Roach, when the reality is his own stubbornness cost him both the Peterson and Garcia fights.

Khan, despite his vulnerable chin, has the skills to return to the championship level. Wladimir Klitschko was in a similar situation to Khan’s a decade ago after he had suffered three KO defeats. But Wladimir cofounded boxing observers, including this writer, by figuratively getting up off the canvas and turning his career around.

The difference between Wladimr Kltischko and Amir Khan is that Klitschko did not blame his losses on his trainer. He worked hard to rise back to the top of the heavyweight division.

Khan if he is to be successful needs to take a page out of Klitschko’s book and stop blaming his losses on his former trainer.