By Scott Gilfoid: After seeing how badly Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) struggled to defeat the non-top 15 ranked Julio Diaz (40-8, 29 KO’s) last night in his controversial 12 round unanimous decision win in Sheffield, Khan might as well be back with his old trainer Freddie Roach because his new trainer Virgil Hunter doesn’t seem to be bringing any positive changes in Khan’s game as far as I can tell.
Khan was hurt at least five times in the fight last night and dropped in the 4th. The fact that Khan was getting hurt over and over again by a fighter like Diaz tells me that Khan might as well go back to Freddie Roach at the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles because I think he was a better fighter for Roach than he is with Hunter.
Roach led Khan to world titles and was doing a decent job with him, but last night, Khan looked like a shot fighter. It might be too late for Roach to resurrect Khan’s career after his knockout loss to Danny Garcia, but I think if there’s anyone that can turn things around for Khan, its Freddie Roach.
Khan would have the opportunity to spar with the best fighters in the world at the Wildcard gym, and if he could pay attention to what Roach is telling him, he might actually learn something.
Hunter was quick to defend Khan after the fight, saying: “Julio Diaz wasn’t flawless. He made a lot of mistakes in there.”
Hunter went on about this at length and it just seemed like he was trying to take the heat off himself. He went on about how Diaz is an ex-champion and how good he is and all that, but what Hunter failed to mention is that Diaz is best his prime by 8 years. Diaz isn’t ranked in the top 15 for a reason. He gets beaten when he steps it up nowadays, and that didn’t used to happen many years ago when he was the IBF lightweight champion in 2005. That’s a long time ago, and that was when Diaz left his prime behind. It’s been pretty much downhill for Diaz ever since.
I think Khan needs to end the Hunter experiment because Khan looks like he’s not as good as he was with Roach. I don’t see Hunter turning Khan’s career around, and in fact, I think Khan is going to get knocked clean out in his next fight in December if he faces Lucas Matthysse or Danny Garcia.
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