By Chester Rivers: On June 16, Amir Khan tweeted “I reckon who should I fight next Pacquiao, Mayweather, Marquez, Broner or Alexander” Here’s some free advice from your friends from across the pond. Shut up and avenge your losses!
Khan was once thought to be the next face of boxing. That idea faded about as fast as it took unknown Breidis Prescott to knock him out cold in front of his home town fans approximately 90 seconds. Team Khan had an instant excuse for his defeat claiming it was the result of Khan being weak from the weight drain. As a result, Khan moved up to the 140 lb division 2 fights later, won a title and yet never offered Prescott a rematch after being called out publicly by Prescott and his promoter.
Criticism grew louder and louder about Khan’s choice of opponents having a lack of power so he decided to fight the up and coming knock out artist from Argentina by the name of Marcos Maidana. The critics were proven right. Rounds 10 and 11 were all Maidana and had the Argentine not run out of gas himself he would have stopped Khan. Although Khan won the fight he loss the respect he was seeking from the boxing public.
On December 10, 2011, Khan, the champion, decided to travel to challenger Lamont Peterson home town of Washington D.C. Khan was dealt a controversial split decision loss to Peterson after being deducted 2 points for excessive pushing. Khan was warned in several rounds before the points were deducted but the circumstances and location of the fight made the outcome very controversial. Both fighters agreed to a rematch. During a random drug screen it was revealed that Peterson had an elevated testosterone level. Peterson blamed the test result on a medical condition. The WBA stripped Peterson of the belt. Khan and his team backed out of the fight and never rescheduled a rematch. Another loss went avenged. Khan opted to take on Danny Garcia for Garcia’s WBC title and the vacant WBA 140 lb title.
This fight got heated during the press conference when Khan, feeling entitled, mentioned his intent to move up to 147 for more lucrative fights. Garcia’s father/trainer Angel Garcia feeling disrespected and overlooked guaranteed his son Danny would knock Amir out. Khan started the fight out strong by boxing beautifully until the being caught flush in the fourth. Khan never recovered and the ref stepped in early in the 5th round calling a halt to the bout. Once again Khan and his team never demanded a rematch. Khan instead blamed the loss on the lack of proper training by Freddie Roach and left for current trainer Virgil Hunter.
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