By Dan Ambrose: If all it took for a fighter with a glass jaw was to spar with a big puncher to cure his problems with taking punches, I guess the boxing world would be filled with champion-caliber fighters instead of the mostly mediocre talent that permeates all of boxing now.
Amir Khan
Amir Khan boxing news
Haye/Barrett, Fagan/Khan, Chavez Jr/Vanda – Latest Boxing News
Undefeated light middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (37-0-1, 29 KOs) will be looking to make a statement against Matt Vanda (39-7, 22 KOs) on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Chavez Jr., 22, the son of boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez, is hoping to look better than he did last time out against Vanda, a fight that turned out to be a grueling 10-round split decision victory for Chavez and one where he hardly impressed. In this case, Chavez had the excuse that he was sick with the flu, which, according to him, prevented him from fighting at his best against Vanda.
It’s unclear, however, why Chavez chose to fight Vanda while sick with the flu. Perhaps the smart thing would have been to cancel the bout rather than perform badly as he did. In fairness to Chavez, it’s hard to blame him though. Up until that fight, he had done relatively well against the fodder that had been served up to in his previous 37 fights, building up an impressive unbeaten record with zero quality opponents. Vanda, 30, a good C-level fighter, was figured to be slightly better than some of Chavez’s recent mediocre opponents. However, whether it be the illness that affected Chavez on that night, or the fact that he’s not much better than Vanda, it’s hard to say for sure.
Amir Khan Returns On December 6th – Latest Boxing News
By Scott Gilfoid: British lightweight Amir Khan (18-1, 14 KOs) returns to the ring on December 6th against a still unnamed opponent. Khan, 21, is hoping to fight on the undercard of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao bout at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan, ranked number #8 in the IBF, was brutally stopped in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott in September. Khan appeared to go into the fight thinking knockout, and went right after the Colombian knockout artist in the first round, rather than staying away from him on the outside.
While trying to land a left hook, Khan left himself open for one of Prescott’s big trademark left hooks, which caught Khan on the jaw, snapping his head back violently and staggering him badly. Prescott then went after him and dropped Khan with additional left hooks to the head. Khan somehow got up off the canvas but was immediately put back down again. The outcome of the fight wasn’t that big of a surprise, however, considering that Khan had been dropped twice before this against Willie Limond and Michael Gomez – two punchers with good but not great power. It seemed only obvious when watching those two fights, that Khan would eventually run into a punch that he couldn’t get up from.
Khan: Roach Trying To Strengthen Amir’s Glass Chin
By Scott Gilfoid: in a an article on Times Online, the new trainer for lightweight Amir Khan (18-1, 14 KOs), Freddie Roach is working on trying to toughen up Khan’s jaw, so that he can experience less knockdowns and knockouts in the future. Khan, 21, up until recently was thought to be a can’t miss future lightweight champion, but unfortunately he ran into a big left hook from Colombian knockout artist Breidis Prescott (20-0, 18 KOs) who flattened Khan in a 1st round TKO on September 6th. The loss was a humiliating one for Khan, but it was something that some boxing experts saw coming a long ways away given Khan’s prior knockdowns by Willie Limond and Michael Gomez, neither of which are particularly huge punchers.
Even before that, Khan had been stunned a couple of times by the light-hitting fodder that had been served up to him while building his impressive 18-0 record. In the pursuit of trying to fix Khan’s latest problems, his trainer Jorge Rubio was let go, and a new trainer – Roach – was brought in. However, Roach’s ideas on how to toughen Khan’s chin, according to the Times, appears a little primitive if not insane sounding.
Khan To Be Trained By Roach? Count On It Lasting Only Until Amir Gets Knocked Out Again
By William Mackay: I don’t know about you, but I think it won’t matter a hill of beans who trains Amir Khan (18-1, 14 KOs) from this point forward, he’ll be the same flawed fighter regardless of the interchangeable trainers that are switched in and out. In the latest boxing news, it appears that American trainer Freddie Roach may be taking over where Cuban Jorge Rubio left off. I doubt it will change a thing.
If anything, Khan will probably get starched even quicker than before, because Rubio was a defensive expert who specialized in teaching defensive fundamentals. Roach, from what I’ve heard, is more of an offensive trainer. Khan may be flawed defensively, but there’s nothing wrong with his offense at all. He’s got good hand speed and power, maybe even the best combination of overall offensive skills in the entire lightweight division. But, Khan’s defense, including some of his decision making in bouts, leaves a lot to be desired.
Khan Sacks Rubio: Is There Any Trainer Alive That Can Fix Khan’s Glass Jaw?
By Jim Dower: According to The Sun, Amir Khan has fired his Cuban trainer Jorge Rubio after only one fight, this being his 1st round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott on September 6th. The knockout was quite unexpected as Khan was thought to have been ready to take on a fighter in the class of Prescott, who was personally selected by Rubio to face Khan. When things didn’t turn out like Khan had expected, it was thought by some that Rubio wouldn’t be lasting too much longer. Although Rubio, a former Cuban amateur coach who specializes in teaching defensive skills, only worked with Khan for a short and never really had much of a chance to teach him anything before Khan’s bout with Prescott.
After being stopped by Prescott, Khan had come to the rescue of Rubio, saying that he was going to keep him as a trainer despite the loss. However, it looks as if he had a change of opinion since then. In fairness to Rubio, he wasn’t given much of a chance to work with Khan and teach him much of anything in the short period of time that he worked with him. Khan, a fighter with extraordinary speed and offensive skills, has defensive problems that make him susceptible to even weaker punchers. Given the fact that Khan had already been dropped twice, including in his bout prior to his fight with Prescott by Michael Gomez, Khan really needed to continue fighting softer opposition rather than a devastating puncher like Prescott.
Amir Khan – What This Defeat Means And The Path To Choose
By Adam Laiolo: Arrogance, is a dangerous characteristic to have. It can accompany you to the top, but only when it is backed up by sheer talent and determination. In hindsight it can blind you to mistakes and home truths and ruin you, whoever you are, reputation or not. Its brother, confidence, is the more humble characteristic, self belief in your own ability can add that extra 10% that some fighters just cannot muster, whatever the situation calls for. For a long time, myself and many other people believed Amir Khan had untold confidence in his own ability and utilized his strengths to accompany this.
Recently, it seems since defeating Gary St Clair in an albeit polished but unspectacular performance has gone from a confident young fighter to an arrogant loud and pretty naive fighter.
I watched Amir Khan through the Olympics, even in his defeat to the much more experienced Kindela you could see he had natural talent and I was sure I was witnessing the birth of the new torch bearer of Great Britain’s boxers.
Is Khan Still a Marketable Fighter?
By Chris Williams: After last Saturday’s crushing defeated to Breidis Prescott (20-0, 18 KOs), formerly unbeaten Amir Khan (18-1, 14 KOs) may find himself not only starting all over again from the drawing board, but he also may be no longer marketable with the boxing public. The loss, a crushing 1st round knockout, left no doubt that Khan wasn’t in the class of the power-punching Colombian and left Khan’s once promising career literally in tatters. Even though Khan is probably young enough to rebuild his career many times over at the age of 21, his weak chin leaves a lot of doubts whether he’ll be able to accomplish that goal with any real degree of success.
After all, it wasn’t as if this was the first time that Khan found himself planted on the canvas. This time, though, he wasn’t able to escape with a victory because Prescott, with a series of devastating left hooks, had hurt him far too badly for him to recover enough to make it out of the 1st round. If Khan had at least fought competitively for a moment in the fight, there would at least be some small string of hope that the boxing public could cling to try and excuse the loss away and a see a better future for him.
Should Khan Fight a Rematch With Prescott?
By Aaron Klein: After last Saturday night’s shocking 1st round knockout loss for British lightweight sensation Amir Khan (18-1, 14 KOs) there’s a lot of questions about his once promising career with many boxing fans and writers feeling that he may ruined as a fighter and unable to come back from this defeat.
His image, however, has taken a major hit and it’s questionable whether he’ll be able to bring back the status he previously held unless he does something bold and dramatic fight like fighting Breidis Prescott (20-0, 18 KOs) in an immediately rematch. Obviously this would seem like a risky perhaps even foolhardy thing for Khan to do given his 1st round destruction to knockout artist Prescott last Saturday, but it’s probably the only way that Khan can ever recapture both his self respect and the respect from boxing fans.
Why did it go so wrong for Amir Khan?
By Jonathan Watkins: Amir Khan’s undefeated record has now become a thing of the past, his aspirations of becoming a world champion have been put firmly on hold and now the rebuilding of his career must take place. On Saturday September 6th, Manchester’s MEN arena, along with many unsatisfied pay-per-view fans, witnessed an embarrassing defeat for Khan at the hands of Columbia’s Breidis Prescott.
The truth is I was debating whether to watch the fight in the first place. For Khan to be on box office at this stage of his career was a bad move. His fights were entertaining as he was showing great skill in his hand-speed and attacking abilities, but his opponents seemed hand picked in order to protect the British fighter and increase his popularity. I would also like to add that I certainly wasn’t further tempted with the fact Audley Harrison was fighting on the undercard, but I won’t go into my thoughts on that boxer, if that’s what you wish to call him.