(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) is ready for his fight this Friday night against Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) in New York. Khan has a pretty good idea what to expect from the 31-year-old Algieri in terms of tricks.
Khan is expecting Algieri to come out trying to box with him instead of slugging it out, and he says he’ll look to overwhelm him with his speed and movement. In the way that Khan describes the fight, it could very well be a really boring fight to watch because Khan hates being hit, especially after his knockout losses to Breidis Prescott and Danny Garcia.
“I really believe that I have the movement, the skills and the technique to beat Chris Algieri and look spectacular doing it,” Khan said during his final press conference on Wednesday.
The thing is Khan has been yapping the same things for weeks now how he’s going to beat Algieri with movement, speed and his skills. I just hope for the boxing public’s sake that Khan actually tries to fight instead of him fighting off the back foot 24/7 on Friday.
It’s not just for the fan’s sake, it’s also for Khan’s sake as well because he’s not going to impress if he fights like he usually does by running around the ring like a chicken with its head cut off. Khan needs to make it look entertaining, because Algieri definitely is going to make it exciting the entire time.
The judges are going to be giving the rounds to the fighter that shows that he wants it more. I don’t think they’re going to be impressed with Khan’s running, holding and shoving if that’s how he chooses to fight. He’s going to need to be more focused on letting his hands go instead of fighting defensively.
“I do feel like I have to prove something,” Algieri said. “I wasn’t happy with my last performance at all. I know I belong here at the elite level and it’s time for me to prove it.”
Algieri lost his last fight to Manny Pacquiao last November by a 12 round unanimous decision. Algieri was too cautious and was too defensive in the first six rounds of the fight. By the time that he did start attempting to let his hands go in the last ix rounds, it was too late. He was trailing by too many rounds and his confidence was shaken by a number of knockdowns he had suffered.
Algieri later said that if he had a chance to do it over again, he would have come out on the attack early in the fight against Pacquiao. You can bet that Algieri is going to be looking to be more aggressive against Khan on Friday because he can’t afford another defeat.
If Algieri wants to stay relevant and continue to get interesting fights and nice paydays, he’s going to need to prove that he can beat the better fighters. Khan is a flawed fighter, but he’s fast and he moves around a lot. Algieri will need to time him and nail him with a big enough shot to take him out.
“Algieri has been in the ring with big names before so we know that’s not going to scare him and he won’t get nervous,” Khan said. “I’m going to be ready for anything he brings to the table.”
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