By Tim Royner: Phil Lo Greco (28-3, 15 KOs) has been picked out officially as Amir Khan’s next opponent for April 21 on Sky Sports at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Lo Greco, 33, made it clear straightaway on Monday that he’s not going to play it nice with Khan by smothering him with compliments just because he’s being given the payday against him.
Lo Greco believes Khan is “mentally weak” and he feels he’s going to end his career on April 21 by knocking him out. If Lo Greco does carry out his threat by knocking Khan out, he’ll have essentially finished his career. Regardless of whether Khan continues his career, he’ll still be done. He’s not going to going to be able to sell his fight with Kell Brook on Sky Box Office PPV if he loses to Lo Greco.
”It should end the road,” Lo Greco said to Sky Sports News. ”Amir Khan has run out of lives. He can’t reinvent himself anymore. On April 21, Amir Khan is going to run out of lives,” Lo Greco says.
If Lo Greco does send the 31-year-old Khan down to a bigger 5th career defeat, it would be a major blow for him, since this fight is supposed to be glorified warm-up fight for Khan to him ready for bigger money fights possibly against Adrien Broner and Kell Brook in 2018. Lo Greco wasn’t meant to be a serious fight for Khan. That’s why he’s being made to come down to 147. Lo Greco doesn’t have the popularity needed for him to get a catch-weight against Khan or a fight at 154.
Lo Greco has never knocked out a world class fighter before during his career. The guys that the Toronto native Lo Greco has been stopping during his 12-year pro career have little known fighters like Brandon Hoskins, Daniel Sostre, Pablo Munguia, Semjons Moroseks, Sebastien Spengler, Jose Leonardo Corona and Jonathan Nelson.
The whole reason why Lo Greco was picked out by Hearn and Khan is precisely because he falls apart when he faces quality fighters, and he’s not shown the ability to knockout decent 2nd tier opposition. There’s a safety factor for Khan in fighting a guy like Lo Greco that wouldn’t be there if he were facing a decent 1st tier guy like Jamal James, Bradley Skeete, Lamont Peterson, Konstantin Ponomarev or Jessie Vargas. There’s a possibly that Khan could beat all of those fighters, but there would be more risk for him fighting those type of guys than there will be for him against Lo Greco.
“What happens after a fighter when he’s been knocked out that bad? It only gets worse. History tells us, I’m not making this up guys,” Lo Greco said. At 147, he knows everywhere he goes, he gets his [expletive] whooped. [Danny] Garcia whooped him, Shawn Porter would beat him, [Errol] Spence beats him. Keith Thurman beats him. That’s the reason why I’m here,” Lo Greco said.
Khan supposedly wants to fight for a world title at welterweight against WBA/WBC champion Keith Thurman and IBF belt holder Errol Spence Jr. However, those fights probably won’t happen if Khan is beaten first by Lo Greco, Adrien Broner or Kell Brook. A loss for Khan anywhere along the lines in 2018 will be enough to remove him from the running for a fight against Spence or Thurman. Those fighters aren’t going to want to face Khan with him coming off of a loss. Khan needs to win his fights this year for him to have a shot at a world title against Spence or Thurman. The money that Khan will get for a fight against Brook is more than what he’ll receive fighting for a world title. Khan and his promoter Eddie Hearn know that obviously, which is why they’re not going o spoil things by taking on a guy that is too big of a threat. But when you’re talking about a fighter that has been out of boxing for 2 years and is coming off of a bad knockout loss like the one Khan experienced against Saul Canelo Alvarez, even a seemingly soft fight against Lo Greco could be a step too far.
Khan and Lo Greco are both in the same boat with the way their careers are going right now. Lo Greco has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights since 2015. He lost to Joseph Elegele and Errol Spence Jr. Lo Greco has not been fighting a lot. Lo Greco fought 1 time in June 2017 in beating Jesus Gurrola, 1 time in 2016 in losing to Elegele by a 10 round unanimous decision, and 3 times in 2015. Those 3 fights in 2015 might as well have been a lifetime ago for Lo Greco, because he’s not been fighting frequently since 2016. Khan’s case is much worse, as he hasn’t fought since May 2016 in losing to Saul Canelo Alvarez by a 6h round knockout. Khan didn’t fight in 2017, and had 1 fight in 2016 and 2015. Khan fought once a year in those 2 years. What has Khan been doing with most of his time? Khan has been traveling and enjoying his life, and living more like a retired fighter than an active one. When a fighter treats boxing as a part time profession, they start to lose their skills and conditioning. We’re seeing that with Khan. He ran out of gas in his last 2 fights with Canelo and Chris Algieri by the 6th round. Khan barely beat Algieri in 2015, and he was knocked out by Canelo.
Surprisingly, there’s not a lot of talk about Khan’s fight with Lo Greco on the net. One reason for that is Khan has been an irrelevant fighter for so many years at 147 that he no longer makes news when he fights. The boxing public notes that Khan rarely fights good opposition any longer, and when he does, he loses.
Look at Khan’s last 6 fights and see for yourself:
• Saul Canelo Alvarez
• Chris Algieri
• Devon Alexander
• Luis Collazo
• Julio Diaz
• Carlos Molina
Canelo is the only good fighter out of the bunch, and those fighters represent the last 4 years of Khan’s career. Those are the only guys Khan fought in the last 4 years of his stunted career. That’s why the boxing fans aren’t getting excited about him now with him fighting journeyman Lo Greco.