By William Mackay: Amir Khan says he and his former trainer Freddie Roach are still good friends even after Khan recently let Roach go because he wasn’t happy with how training was going. However, that’s not stopping Khan from pointing out what he feels were Roach’s limitations as a trainer.
Khan said to Sky Sports News “The focus wasn’t there [on defensive] as much and we kept on doing the same things in the gym, and that is probably why a lot of fighters that I fought knew exactly what I was going to do.”
It sure sounds like Khan is handing out some blame on Roach for his own failings in his last two fights, both of them losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. In fairness to Roach, Khan has been predictable with his fighting style since he turned pro. He’s always circled the ring, and stopping to throw flurries every once in a while. If anything, Roach was a failure at changing how Khan fought in the first place. I see very little of what Roach was trying to teach Khan in watching their training sessions and his fights. Roach tells Khan stay off the ropes in training, and then Khan fights Peterson and fights off the ropes.
Khan is now trained by Virgil Hunter who has a rep for being a good defenisve trainer. However, the only fighter that Hunter has in his stable that I consider a good defensive fighter is Andre Ward, so it’s unclear whether Hunter can do for Khan that he did with Ward. They’re two different fighters. Ward is like a sponge in terms of taking the knowledge given to him by Hunter and applying it in his fights. I just don’t know that Khan is that kind of guy. It looks like he was told things by Roach, and then went out and did the opposite. That’s not how Ward is. What good is having a great trainer if you’re not going to apply what they’re telling you?
Khan says about Hunter “I’ve always had poor defense and I think Virgil Hunter can bring the best out of me.”
If Hunter can do all these things and keep Khan from getting knocked out, then Khan could very well turn his career around. However, Hunter is going to have to work on a lot of things because Khan’s defense isn’t his only problem. He can’t fight on the inside at all, he has a nasty habit of shoving his opponents when they try to fight him in close, and he often likes to grab his opponents by the back of the head and lean forward to pull them down towards the canvas. Hunter is going to need to change all of these things for Khan to get to where he was before.
Khan will be fighting Carlos Molina next in December. This should be a good way to see if Hunter’s training is rubbing off on Khan or if he’s just another fighter that can’t learn new things.
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