By Brinsley Bailey: Call it destiny, good fortune or divine intervention but Amir Khan’s first round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in September 2008 propelled Khan on the road toward boxing greatness. After his first loss, the British press and many boxing fans were quick to attack the “limited” Khan for his poor defence and tactics. This brutal and perhaps well needed criticism, forced Khan to question his attitude and approach to boxing.

In December 2008 he managed to become the latest member of the Wildcard gym and entrust his future with legendary trainer Freddie Roach. Since then they have never looked back and Khan became the World Boxing Association Light welterweight champion in a unanimous decision victory over Andreas Kotelnik in July 2009.

Many people believe that Freddie Roach is the main driving force behind Khan’s success and although in terms of defence that is true, I believe the major change was a modification of Khan’s physical structure. Alex Ariza (Khan’s conditioning coach) told Sky Sports News before the Barrera fight earlier this year that Khan’s previous body was too ‘top-heavy’. This meant that Khan had very good power to cause damage but did not have strong enough leg strength for competent foot work which in turn created a major flaw in his defensive capabilities. Although Khan had the capability to stop opponents his legs were his weakness and caused him to become one-dimensional offensively and defensively by focusing on brute force and forgetting about his most impressive asset: speed. However, since his transformation with Ariza, Khan has become a more physically and technically balanced fighter. Khan has much more speed than before and (including the technical improvements from Roach) his defence has improved immensely. Although his last two performances against Barrera and Kotelnik suggest some of his power may have deteriorated, you cannot argue with the manner of the performances themselves and more importantly the results!

Although I have highlighted many of the positive characteristics of Khan, I think that there are still some glaring question marks over his future. As with many other boxing fans, I believe that a chin is one of the most important attributes a boxer can have and unfortunately Khan’s is not the most reliable. There are some physical exercises that boxers such as Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather have used to develop a solid chin; however, most trainers believe that you’re either born with it or without it. At world class level, a decent chin is a very important quality because no matter who you are (excluding Floyd Mayweather) you are going to get hit and how well you take it determines whether you’re holding a title belt at the end of the night or a loser’s paycheck.

Even though I suggested before that Khan’s focus on speed rather than power was beneficial to his success, I believe that in the more high profile fights of the future, Khan will need more power. A Freddie Roach philosophy often used to describe Pacquiao and Khan is “speed kills” and in many respects I believe this to be true but how would Khan keep off bully fighters such as Cotto or Hatton? The answer is with great difficulty because even though he could probably hit them all with a quick combination, the fact is that they will walk through his light barrage and cut off the ring to land successful power shots of their own and test his suspect chin. I do believe that Khan’s speed is a tremendous asset and would win him many a decision, however, the higher you climb on the boxing ladder means the tougher the opposition and the more power you need to bring to the table.

As I have shown, although Khan’s chin may cause him trouble down the line, I think that Roach’s influence will limit the possibility of this problem being exposed. Also, in terms of power I believe Khan may develop into a hard hitting fighter as Roach works on his timing to maximize the damage caused by his punches. Khan does have his flaws like any other fighter but I believe that his superb speed and stamina will highlight Khan as a forced to be reckoned with in the boxing world. A single fight is hard enough to predict let alone a boxer’s career but in Amir Khan’s future I believe the sky’s the limit…