Barrera vs. Khan: Look For An Easy Win For Amir

By Boxing News - 01/15/2009 - Comments

khan4569By Chris Williams: I’m no fan of lightweight contender Amir Khan (19-1, 15 KOs), especially after seeing him get destroyed in 54 seconds of the 1st round by Breidis Prescott (20-0, 18 KOs) in September, but I think Amir has more than enough to beat Marco Antonio Barrera (64-6, 43 KOs) on March 14th. I can see why Barrera was chosen as an opponent for Khan.

Barrera, 34, a former bantamweight, featherweight and super featherweight champion, remains one of the more popular fighters in boxing, known for his wars with Erik Morales and his win over Naseem Hamed. However, he’s not the same fighter he used to be and has moved up in weight recently from super featherweight to lightweight.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t brought his power with him at the new weight and mostly looks slow, slightly fat and nothing like a lightweight contender. Barrera has none of Khan’s speed and is much smaller than Khan at 5’6″ and will be giving up a huge five inches to Amir.

The new lightweight doesn’t seem right for Barrera, who still looks super featherweight, only an out of shape one. Khan may have a poor chin, but I seriously doubt that Barrera has the power or speed to test it at this weight. If there’s anything that Barrera has going for him, it’s his ability to take a good shot and still keep coming forward.

Unless Khan can somehow hurt Barrera with some flurries early on, he’s going to find himself having to trade with him as the fight wears on. Barrera will catch up to him at some point and start unloading to the body and head. Khan can probably take Barrera’s head shots without too much trouble, but Marco can still punch remarkably well to the body and he could hurt Khan if he’s allowed to stand in front of him for any length of time.

I got to hand it to Khan’s promoter Frank Warren, this shows a lot of courage to put Amir in with a fighter as good as Barrera is. Even though Barrera is a shadow of what he used to be in his prime seven years ago, he still knows how to fight, can take a good shot and can punch well to the body.

Clearly, Barrera’s hand speed, never all that good to begin with, has slowed down even more but with his good chin, he’s likely to be able to catch up to Khan enough times to make for an exciting fight. Barrera has a lot to lose in this fight, and knowing that Khan is susceptible to knockouts, he will no doubt be pinning his ears back and going after Khan from the opening bell, trying to tap his fragile chin.

Barrera looked horrible in his last fight, a 4th round stoppage over journeyman Sammy Ventura in November. Barrera fought poorly the first two rounds and was hit a lot by Ventura, whom he should have been able to destroy without any trouble.

But Barrera came back strong in the 3rd and 4th, hurting Ventura repeatedly with hard body shots and taking him out. I’m guessing that Khan feels that he can stay away from Barrera, jab him from the outside and then take him out with fast shots without getting hit too much.

That may or may not be, but I’m thinking that Barrera will test Khan’s chin at some point in the fight, perhaps many times. Barrera probably won’t go down easily like most of the soft opposition that Khan has faced thus far, while at the same time, he’ll be able to catch up to Khan and hit him to the body.

I see Khan giving Barrera a lot of problems with his jab and movement in the first half of the fight, hitting him often and probably busting him up in the process. Barrera will likely tire out as the fight moves into the later rounds and he’ll continue to take punishment, probably enough for his corner to throw in the towel on his behalf.

He still wants to fight for a title in the lightweight division, so I don’t expect that he’ll want to get too beaten up by the young Khan. Mostly, I see this as a good payday for Barrera, who will try to give his best shot at winning but won’t want to get beaten badly without a title on the line.



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