Khan: Being at 147lbs is going to make me stronger

By Boxing News - 03/18/2014 - Comments

khan9By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) will be fighting on Floyd Mayweather Jr’s next fight card against likely Luis Collazo or someone else along his level in terms of talent. This will be Khan’s first official fight at the full 147lbs for the welterweight division, and he’s under the impression that he’ll be stronger at this weight than he was at 140. He believes that this will be the answer to the problems that he had recently in his losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, as well as his controversial decision over Julio Diaz.

“Weight making can affect a fighter, I was killing myself to make weight [at 140lbs], going back to the Zab Judah fight when I was first having problems,” Khan said to Sky Sports. “I think now being at 147lbs it’s only going to make me stronger, healthier and happier when I go into a fight. The speed’s going to be there. I won’t be tired or weak.”

I remember Khan talking the same way when he moved up from the lightweight division to the light welterweight division. The move was supposed to have been the solution for him having been knocked out in one round by Breidis Prescott, and dropped by a number of other fighters in the division. Unfortunately, the move up to 140 only helped Khan against the lesser fighters in the division like Paul McClosley and other fighters like him.

When Khan stepped it up against the good 140 lb. fighters in Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson, he got whipped by both of them. Khan did beat Marcos Maidana, but I count that as a knockout loss for Khan due to the referee getting in Maidana’s way when he was finishing off a badly hurt Khan in the 10th round and on.

Khan should really wait and see how he’ll perform at the new weight before he goes off flapping his gums about how good he’s going to be and this and that. He’s not going to know jack until he’s at least had 5 fights or so. By that time, Khan should know if he’s the same fragile-chinned fighter he was when he was fighting at 140 or if the new weight has helped him.

Of course, Khan won’t be able to know anything unless he faces some good opposition. He can’t just take on some run of the mill fodder opponent and all of a sudden crown him as the new king of the welterweight division.

My advice is for Khan to forget all about him fighting Collazo, because no one would care about that fight, and a win over him would do nothing for Khan’s career. Khan needs to face Robert Guerrero or Keith Thuman. If Khan can beat one of those guys and then 3-5 other good welterweight contenders, then it’s okay for him to crow about how he’s a better fighter at 147. But until then, Khan can’t say anything because he’ll have proven nothing.



Comments are closed.