By Scott Gilfoid: Amir ‘King’ Khan (32-4, 20 KOs) obliterated journeyman fighter Phil Lo Greco (28-4, 15 KOs) in the first round in stopping the badly over-matched Canadian in 39 seconds of the contest before the mismatch was over at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.
Khan, 31, knocked Lo Greco down twice in the fight before the fight was halted. Khan knocked the badly hurt Lo Greco down with a right uppercut to get the KO. The first knockdown was from a right to the head in the opening seconds of the bout.
Lo Greco looked hurt as he got back to his feet. After the action resumed, Khan threw a flurry of shots that caused Lo Greco to fall against the ropes. The fight was then halted at that point by referee Victor Loughlin.
On the positive side, Khan’s hand speed and power looked good. He’s still as fast as he was in the past. Khan’s quick 1st round knockout win over Lo Greco was an improvement over Errol Spence’s 3rd round knockout of the Canadian fighter in June 2015. Khan’s boxing fans might look at that and make the leap that Khan can beat Spence. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way in real life.
It doesn’t matter that Khan knocked out Lo Greco faster than Spence. Khan will still likely lose badly to Spence if/when that fighter ever takes place. Spence fought Lo Greco when he was still an active fighter. Khan fought Lo Greco when he was 33, and coming off of layoff in which he had gotten really fat. You can argue that Lo Greco’s training camp was a fat farm with him having to shed a lot of blubber to get down to the 150 lb. catch-weight limit for the fight.
”The weight is an issue with Kell. I’m a 147 pound fighter,” Khan said after the fight. ”I will fight and beat Kell Brook and he world knows it. Brook’s been living off of my name for a long time. I came and signed with Matchroom. I’m the one chasing Kell.”
Khan vs. Brook is a decent fight, but it would be a heck of a lot better to see Khan fight the best welterweight in the division in Errol Spence Jr. instead of the guy he knocked out last May. Brook quit on his knee against Spence. I don’t see what the upside is for Khan to fight Brook rather than Spence. I’m just saying.
As far as Brook is concerned, he needs to fight the best fighter at 154, and that’s Jarrett Hurd in my opinion. If not Hurd, then Brook should face WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo. Why fight Khan when he still hasn’t beaten anyone? Tonight’s fight proved nothing for Khan. It just showed that he can beat a journeyman fighter that has already been beaten three times in the past.
”I came to do a clinical job and be smart and show good movement. Khan is back,” Khan said in talking in the third person. ”People wanted to see me come back and I wanted to prove a point. I’ve changed my trainer. I had to make changes. Lo Greco is dangerous,” Khan said.
Oh come on, Lo Greco is not dangerous. He’s a slow guy with little power and not much of a chin. This was not a fight that proved anything at all other than that Khan could beat a guy that was made to order for him. If Khan wants to prove something, he needs to at least fight a talented contender like Shawn Porter or Danny Garcia. I’m not even asking that Khan fight Keith Thurman or Spence, because that obviously wouldn’t be fair to him.
If Khan would just take on Porter or Garcia and prove that he can beat one of those guys, then I’d be impressed. Until then, Khan has proven nothing by beating Lo Greco.
It was a predictable outcome though, as Lo Greco has only fought once in the last 2 years, and he’s little more than a journeyman. Khan’s promoter Eddie Hearn has gone out of his way to build Lo Greco up to be a gatekeeper, but it’s clear he’s a gatekeeper. A gatekeeper is someone like Tony Harrison at 154. Lo Greco is a junior middleweight, and he’s hardly a gatekeeper. If Khan had knocked out Tony Harrison, Austin Trout or Jack Culcay, then you could say he beat an actual gatekeeper at 154, but Lo Greco is NOT a gatekeeper opponent. He’s a journeyman.
With the victory, Khan could face Kell Brook later this year unless he wants to face one of the welterweight champions. Khan said this week that he believes he can beat Errol Spence Jr. if he’s at his best. It sure would be nice if Khan could back of his words by facing Spence.
Hearn was smothering Khan with compliments after the fight, saying ”People ask me if Khan has still got speed but he might be even quicker than before. He will be in massive fights in the UK. The British public want to see Khan against Brook and I want to make it happen. They want to bash each other up.”
The card was basically a series of dreadful mismatches from start to finish. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn did a good job of setting up A-side fights for his guys, but he was too careful in picking out opposition because none of the fights were particularly competitive.
Other boxing results on the card:
Conor Benn TKO 4 Chris Truman
Natasha Jones TKO 7 Taoussy L’Hadji
Anthony Fowler KO 2 Ryan Tomas
Sam Eggington TKO 2 Achilles Szabo