By MichelleUk: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) will be fighting Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KO’s) a month from now on May 3rd for vacant WBC Silver Welterweight Strap at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Khan-Collazo fight will be the co-main event on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Marcos Maodana undercard. Khan is confident that his performance against the 32-year-old Collazo will steal the show from Mayweather and the other fighters on the card.
I think it’s a very good match up and tough fight for the 27-year-old Khan, who hasn’t fought at welterweight at the full weight, and his last performance wasn’t an impressive one against former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz last year in April.
Khan has some impressive wins under his resume in the distant past in beating Andriy Kotelnik, Maidana, Paulie Maliganggi, Zab Judah, and Marco Antonio Barerra. But Khan hasn’t looked impressive in his last four fights, and he’s definitely looking to make a huge statement against Collazo, considering that Khan just missed out on the biggest opportunity of his life after getting passed over by Mayweather for a payday fight.
“I can tell you, our fight will steal the show,” Khan told The National. “We are two exciting fighters, one with skills and speed and the other a big hitter. It is a 50-50 fight and that’s what the fans want to see. I have all my focus on Luis Collazo and no one else. Collazo is a great fighter, a big puncher and I want to face the big hitters and prove my doubters wrong. I’ve been hearing non-stop from media and fans that I can’t handle big punchers.”
Much of Khan’s reputation for having a weak chin goes back to his 4th round TKO loss to Danny Garcia in 2012.
Collazo, who is currently ranked #8 by WBC and #2 by WBA, is coming of a huge 2nd round KO victory over former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz last January. In the past, Collazo was involved in tough close fights against Ricky Hatton and Andre Berto. Collazo is by no means a walk in the park for Khan, and Khan is overlooking him I think he might be in for a rude awakening come May 3rd.
We’re all familiar with Khan’s flaws; he is very exciting to watch and has some of the fastest hands in boxing right now. He has great boxing ability, great talent, and big heart but has major liabilities in the defense department. Khan gets himself too involved in unnecessary exchanges and gets countered at times. But one thing is for sure and that’s the fact that he has never been involved a dull fight, and has a very fan friendly style. So I reckon we’re in for a very exciting bout on May3rd, which is a really hard one to predict and can go both ways.
Collazo would be a very legitimate first win at 147 for Khan if he can pull it off.
Khan could win by boxing from a distance, but he also very well could get stopped if he shows up looking like he did last time we saw him against Julio Diaz last year
Khan has been training for the past 4 months under his trainer Virgil Hunter, who is well known for his defensive training techniques. Hunter also trains WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward.
It’ll be interesting to see how much Khan has improved under Hunter. There’s a possibility that we might see a more mature, sensible and totally different version of Khan with less defensive flaws and better technique.
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