By Jonathon Fell: Amir Khan is a continuing frustration for boxing fans around the world I am sure. He has come back from defeats, bad ones to re-establish himself as a world level contender through excellent performances against Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander.
The incredibly frustrating thing is that he does not seem to learn. This May he may well find himself in the same position as 12 months previous. While I see the improvements, refinements and general improvement of intelligence within the ring, no doubt influenced by his update team, Virgil Hunter etc. his strategy, tactics outside of it do puzzle me.
Since December Khan with some justification was brimming with confidence and decided to focus on the illusive fight with Floyd “Money” Mayweather. He was not as publicly humiliated as 12 months ago when Floyd decided to post a poll for fans to vote on who they think he should fight, which Khan won, only for Floyd do disregard this and choose to fight Marcos Maidana instead, some might say a cherry picked opponent. For me it was certainly an easier option than to fight Amir.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OROHLYVyK2s
So from there what did Amir learn, well he chose to box Devon Alexander in December 2014 when he declined this option in 2013 which at the time would have been for the IBF world title to ensure that he was active and put on a show for the American public, Floyd and other welterweight contenders. From there I expected him to try to earn his shot a little more, why has he not fought, Robert Guerrero, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios? I could go on. The first part of this year should have been focused on getting one of these names in the ring for May, on a big US show potentially on the Mayweather Pacquiao undercard.
What we are seeing now in March 2015 is similar to what we saw in March 2014, Khan feeling somewhat sorry for himself that he hasn’t got his (deserved) shot at Floyd and fumbling around to find a name to fight in May to put on a show and no doubt call out Mayweather once more. Recent communications via social media have seen Khan almost desperately trying to put wheels in motion for fights with Miguel Cotto at a higher weight which smacks of desperation frankly and more recently calling out Adrien “The Problem” Broner, a fight which I like and is a really sensible progressive step if he wants to be considered by others as having “earned his shot”.
The final piece to this puzzle is the Brook – Khan offering which as a UK boxing fan is a very, very exciting prospect. For me what has happened here is clear, Kell Brook and his team, Eddie Hearn and Matchroom are desperate for this fight as a stand out for Kell, to generate huge purses for both fighters comparable only to the Carl Froch – George Groves 2 fight for both Kell and Amir, and why wouldn’t Kell want it.
He’s world champ and for me, he wins. Amir has played this with a degree of intelligence I feel. He knows it’s as tough a fight out there in the division, because Brook is that good and his reputation by potentially losing to a lesser known opponent albeit a world champion is not something he can risk now. He has somewhat alienated the UK fans and continuing to develop his name and enhance his reputation stateside is probably a sensible path for him to take.
I’d love to see Amir’s improved ring intelligence translate to his strategies outside of it because through bad luck or judgment, it’s not working for him currently.
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