Julio Diaz

By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) thinks some of his critics are jealous of his talents, because he doesn’t understand how they can criticize him when he’s beaten guys like Zab Judah, Marcos Maidana and Paulie Malignaggi.

Khan said to thesun.co.uk “I don’t know why some fans and a few other fighters have a go at me. Jealously maybe? But I’ve learned to live with it and all that kind of sneaky criticism no longer bothers me.”

I bet. I think the criticism has to bother Khan, as it would anyone because it’s not just coming from a few fans. We’re talking massive amounts of fans are criticizing Khan, and that suggests that they see holes in his game.

By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan’s stock has dramatically fallen in the past two years since he took defeats at the hands of Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Those defeats have shown to some that Khan doesn’t have the chin or the skills to fight at the world level.

Khan now has a new trainer in Virgil Hunter, and he’s fighting his second straight 2nd tier fighter in Julio Diaz (40-7-1, 29 KO’s). He beat little known lightweight Carlos Molina last December, and was able to end his own two-fight losing streak in beating the second tier fighter.

By Scott Gilfoid: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is putting his fighter former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) in a position to where he’ll be able to capture three of the four 140 pound belts by beating the winner of the four-man light welterweight tournament in December.

Schaefer said to RingTV: “Amir wants to clean up the 140-pound weight class and, I think, what better way to do that than a big December fight against the winner of these other great matchups.”

By Mark Havey: Amir Khan has often made the mistake of talking about other fights whilst training for another. Effectively dispersing his focus to places it shouldn’t be. history has proven that is never wise to over look an opponent. During his training camp for his fight with Lamont Peterson, Amir Khan repeatedly called out Floyd Mayweather.

He lost a close fight on points. Throughout training for Danny Garcia, Khan again issued challenges to Mayweather. Garcia knocked Khan out in round 4.

Khan recently used his Facebook page to propose an eliminator. Not a bad idea if he was suggesting a way in which he could earn a fight with Garcia, but he didn’t do that.

By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) has been put in the position where if he loses his next fight against Julio Diaz (40-7-1, 29 KO’s) on April 27th then it’ll be pretty much over for the 26-year-old Khan.

Diaz isn’t ranked in the top 15 in the welterweight division, and he’s not even close to being as good as many of the top 15 contenders in that division and also in the light welterweight division. If Khan can’t beat this guy when he faces him at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, then it’s really over for Khan.

By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) doesn’t see himself having problems taking hard shots from his opponents, and he points out that he’s never been knocked out in the clinical sense as proof of that.

Khan said on his social media site, “Getting knocked down is one thing. Getting knocked down + put to sleep is another. [It] never happened to me. I’ve been stopped two times on my feet. So does that mean [Manny] Pacquiao , [Juan Manuel] Marquez, [Mike] Tyson, [Lennox] Lewis, many more have glass chins cause thy got knocked out / down; Silly people out there. What’s this bull**** about glasschin. LOL [laugh out loud] makes me laugh 30 fights lost 3. Well, 2 really. So all those who Say that make me laugh.”

By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF lightweight champion Julio Diaz (40-7-1, 29 KO’s) has a pretty good idea what he’s up against by agreeing to fight Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) in his home country in the UK on April 27th at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire.

The 33-year-old Diaz realizes that he’s probably going to have to KO Khan in order to ensure he walks out of the ring with the victory in this fight, and that’s precisely what Diaz plans on doing. He’s not going to let the judges decide who wins this fight; he’s going to stop Khan and put him out of his misery.

A loss for Khan in this fight would be his third defeat in his last four fights, and the writing would be on the wall at that point that Khan needs to retire unless he’s satisfied with being a gatekeeper type of fighter.