By Hector Gonzalez: Amir Khan was knocked out cold last night by Canelo in round 6. The pundits, fans, etc. want to make it about Khan’s chin, yes, Amir Khan has a weak chin, but this this is the sweet science. Hit and don’t get hit, this is not about chin; this is about lack of defense.
Amir Khan looked good for the first couple of rounds. For anyone who knows his style, it’s typical for him. He looked good for the first couple of rounds against Garcia as well; he also looked good against Lamont Peterson for the first couple of rounds. It’s simple to decipher. Amir Khan is an Olympic champion, he fights in the Olympic style of fighting, in other words, he is trained to fight for 3 rounds on the basis of winning on points. His style reflects that.
During the Canelo fight Khan looked good for the first couple of rounds. That was expected. For seasoned boxing fans, it’s also typical to know that Mexican boxers will take their time during the opening rounds. Historically Mexican boxers win fights by breaking down their opponent. It was obvious that after the 4th round, Amir Khan began to fade.
Many fans will look at this fight and think speed vs power, as though that’s the deciding factor to the outcome. That’s what Golden Boy, the promoters want you think, but that’s not the case. In reality the outcome really came down to skill and quite frankly Canelo is the more skilled fighter.
To give context, think about the 2 rounds that Khan won for certain. Then think the next 12 rounds where stamina, physical fatigue, and mental fatigue will come into place, in other words what good is it to exert you energy for the first 2 rounds when the fight is a 12 round fight. From my observation, Khan’s fatigue began to show in the 4th round. It wasn’t about his chin, it was about him exerting so much speed and energy in the first couple of rounds that fatigue began to take its affect, especially against Canelo who would not stop coming forward.
While the pundits are commenting on Khan’s speed during the first couple of rounds, they are ignoring what Canelo was doing. By round three Canelo had asserted his Jab. He was also landing thunderous hooks to the body. He also caught Khan with a few hooks that Khan was able to take well, but accumulative taking its toll. Canelo was also shortening the distance; he also started to through faints into his game. He slowly started to hit combinations.
The pundits are ignoring the fact that Canelo actually landed more punches in the fight than Khan did. They’re basing their opinion on what looked flashier as oppose to what was effective. In round 5, Canelo actually cut Khan with a well-placed punch, no one is talking about that. In round six, Canelo, before the knockout, caught Khan with a beautiful hook combination, the left hook to the head and the right hook the body that wobbled Khan. This was all happening before the knockout. In other words the knockout was not just a random right hand that landed on Khan, even the right punch that was landed started off as a faint to the body that ended up landing as a right.
In other words, Khan has speed but he is not the full package on the elite level. He lacks defense. Also, Canelo has more boxing skill then he is given credit for, everyone saw the knock out, but few are able to see what transpired before the thunderous right… the body shots, the jabs, the faints, the closing of the distance.