Freddie Roach talks about Khan’s longest training camp – Boxing News
Former IBF light welterweight titlist Amir Khan has gone through the longest and most strenuous training camp of his career in order to prepare for Danny Garcia. The Briton fighter has left no stone unturned in order to maximise his strength and punching
power for the unbeaten American.
Even Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach is astounded over the results Khan has produced with his new strength and conditioning coach Ruben Tabares. Khan started training for his fight against Peterson back in April. The fight, which was scheduled to be held on
May 19, was cancelled and subsequently Khan landed a fight with the current WBC light welterweight titlist Danny Garcia. Since April, Khan has been training, making it a training camp of nearly three months, switching his strength trainers from Alex Ariza
to Ruben Tabares.
“We had to switch gears and get ready for a different opponent,” said Roach when asked about ‘King’ Khan’s training camp.
He added, “I gave Amir three weeks off to go home and rest and chill out a little bit. We got a new opponent, he came back to camp, and the game plan changed somewhat but not extremely different.”
When asked about Lamont Peterson’s performance, to which Khan fell, Roach said, “It was more disappointment because Lamont Peterson had a compelling story, won the championship, and that ruined the whole story. I said after that fight that I’ve never saw
him fight that aggressive before and now I know why.”
Peterson defeated Khan last year in December, taking away the Briton fighter’s IBF and WBA light welterweight titles. Earlier this year, Peterson’s positive drug test report showed up and the American testified to using drugs before the Khan fight. As a
result, he was stripped off the WBA light welterweight title. The championship is now up for grabs when Khan meets Garcia.
“These guys signed up to do these drug tests and so forth; it’s crazy to me that they are getting caught,” Roach added while talking about Peterson’s drug tests.
Roach appreciated Garcia for being a speedy and hungry fighter, and admitted that the unbeaten American will be a tough opponent for Khan.
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