OnThEGRiND BoXiNG

Monday July 20th, 2009
by Alex McIntyre - OnThEGRiND BoXiNG Scotland

On the 6th of September 2008 Amir’s Khans dreams of World Domination laid in tatters after suffering a painful and humiliating one-round destruction at the hands of Breidis Prescott. The knives were out and he was written off as a glass jawed joke by most of the boxing community.

Fast forward just 10 months and the reversal of fortune is evident with Prescott losing to unheralded Mexican Miguel Vasquez, while Khan defeated a seasoned veteran in Andrei Kotelnik for the WBA World Light Welterweight Title…as they fought on separate cards, continents apart, and as fate would have it on the very same weekend.

The transformation is complete and Khan has gone from little boy lost to full fledged Champion in a bout titled, “The Man Who Would Be King.” The man responsible for this dramatic u-turn is none other than Freddie Roach, who appears to have the Midas touch right now, and after transforming Manny Pacquiao from a wild marauding brawler into the complete fighter and P4P number 1 that he is today, Roach has now turned his attention to the young Bolton star.

The difference in Khan was first evidenced in his bout with Marco Antonio Barrera. The new style was all about the calculated pin point shots, with fast combination punching, and the high guard defence. Keep that shaky chin covered up was some sound advice. The cut suffered by Barrera however, robbed the fans the chance to see the new and improved Khan going down the stretch, and due to the terribly inefficient refereeing there was somewhat of a stain left on the performance.

This time out Roach has had a lot more time to work with his new charge and the fight with Kotelnik showed yet further improvements in Khan. The chin has now been firmly tucked away hopefully never to make another appearance, with the high guard being utilized to perfection. Khan fought off the back foot with ease for most of this fight, he also fought with his brain and showed his ring intelligence for the first time, a trait that has Roach’s name stamped all over it.

There were body punches in the mix and his counter punching has improved immeasurably in the short time he’s been with Roach. It was also another masterstroke by Roach to move Khan up a weight and campaign at 140Ibs. Now, I know there was some talk that Khan could move back down, but after witnessing this display I think it’s safe to say that Khan has found his true weight class and he looked very very comfortable tonight.

There are still a few things to work on though, and the biggest thing Roach will probably look at is getting more power into Khans Punches. Amir looked like he was setting himself with the punches tonight, but they are still relativity weak and he will need to learn how to sit down on them properly. Amir is not the finished article yet by any means, and he will do well not to get carried away with his great win this evening. If he continues to work hard and listen to the advice of Freddie Roach though, he’s well on his way to realising some more of his boxing dreams.

Next up for Khan and Roach is a possible “UK Superfight” with Ricky Hatton and after this past weekend’s win I see that fight being closer than ever. With the amount of money that will be on the table it’s a no brainer, and would be the biggest British fight since the days of Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn.