By Tim Royner: Amir Khan has a new trainer in Joe Goosen to help him prepare him for his April 21st comeback fight against journeyman Phil Lo Greco (28-3, 15 KOs) after the recent health problems of his trainer Virgil Hunter.
Before signing on with Goosen, Khan had been training at Virgil Hunter’s boxing gym in Hayward, California in the Bay Area. Hunter has trained former 2 division world champion and Olympic gold medalist Andre ‘SOG’ Ward during his successful pro career.
Goosen is going to try and help the 31-year-old Khan get ready for his fight against Lo Greco for their match on April 21 on Sports at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. As good as Goosen is as a trainer, this is a fight that Khan would likely win training himself in his garage. We’re talking about a very level opponent for Khan to be fighting. There’s nothing wrong with Khan taking an easy opponent at this stage of his career. After all, Khan hasn’t fought in 2 years and he’s coming off a brutal 6th round knockout loss to former WBC middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez on May 7, 2016. Khan was knocked cold by a right hand from the much bigger looking Canelo in that fight. After that match, Khan kind of lost his way, traveling, enjoying life and making boxing a secondary thing, which you can argue he’s been doing since 2013. Boxing hasn’t been a high priority in Khan’s life since his losses to Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson in 2011 and 2012.
It’s unclear what type of health problems Hunter is experiencing. Whatever the case, Khan is now being trained by Goosen for his fight with Lo Greco.
“Virgil Hunter experienced a health scare this week and was hospitalized,” Hunter spokesperson Julie Goldsticker said. “We are happy to report that he is recovering and getting stronger every day. We appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers and request that his privacy be respected while he recovers. There will not be any further statements made at this time as we allow him to heal.”
Khan is going to have an advantage over Lo Greco in that he’s dragging him down to 147 for the fight. Lo Greco is a stocky 5’8” Canadian fighter, who competes at junior middleweight, and he hasn’t been all that active as of late with his boxing career. The 33-year-old Lo Greco fought just once last year in beating journeyman Jesus Gurrola (24-13-3, 12 KOs) by an 8-round majority decision on June 30, 2017. Before that, Lo Greco had lost two out of his last here fights in defeats against Joseph Elegele in 2016 and Errol Spence Jr. in 2015. Spence stopped Lo Greco in the 3rd round of a hopelessly one-sided contest. Lo Greco also has a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision loss to Shawn Porter in May 2013. Lo Greco surprisingly lasted the distance against Porter in that fight, but he took a lot of punishment.
Goosen has a lot of experience as a trainer. He recently trained Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for his fight with Andrzej Fonfara. That didn’t work out too well for Chavez Jr. with him getting stopped in the 9th round in April 2015. You can’t blame Chavez’s loss on Goosen. He just looked like he was untrained and badly out of shape for that fight. Hopefully, Khan is in better condition than Chavez Jr. was for his comeback fight, because he might lose to Lo Greco on April 21 if he’s not in good condition.
“Virgil wasn’t too well, so I needed someone else in with the same experience and who could help me,” Khan said to ESPN.com. “He’s helping me on a few areas and I like the work he’s doing with me. We’re breaking down the fight with me and Lo Greco and setting up a game plan to go in the fight with.”
Khan doesn’t need much help in coming up with a game plan to beat Lo Greco. His hand speed advantage will be more than enough to win this fight, as Lo Greco is very slow of hand and foot. That’s one of the reasons why Lo Greco’s career has failed to take off. He’s too slow. The only way Khan loses this fight is if he’s stationary or if he throws the same kind of slow, limp jab that Canelo Alvarez was able to counter with a right hand in the 6th round of their fight in 2016. Khan can’t throw those kinds of punches at the pro level if he doesn’t want to be counted by his opposition.
This will be the maiden fight for Khan with his new Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who is eager to setup a fight between him and former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook for later this year. Hearn has been after Khan for years to try and setup a fight between him and Brook. Now that both fighters are looking faded and near ends of their respective careers, Hearn has finally close to making that fight. Khan needs to win his fight against Lo Greco in April, and Brook needs to be victorious for his match in June or July. If both fighters win, then Hearn will put them in with each other in November or December on Sky Box Office in the UK.
Khan believes he can win a world title at 147 before he retires from boxing. Unfortunately, there are only two softer champions in the welterweight division right now, and that’s WBA World champion Lucas Matthysse and WBO champion Jeff Horn. Khan hasn’t expressed interest in facing either of them. Khan’s dreams of fighting for a world title could be sidelined quickly by Kell Brook later this year. If Khan is knocked out by Brook, he’ll have to hit the reset button on his career once again. At 31, Khan is kind of old to have to rebuild his career once again. It would be in Khan’s best interest to forget about going after world titles, and instead focus on facing guys like Manny Pacquiao.
Khan had a good amateur career, but at the pro level things haven’t worked out well for him unfortunately. A lot of it has been his own undoing simply by not being active enough to stay relevant.