Amir Khan’s American dream
The Beatles did it, David Beckham’s done it, even Jude Law has succeeded in cracking America. Now the latest British star to try and grab the attention of Uncle Sam is WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan.
Although right now the Bolton pugilist is probably just pleased to have cracked American border patrol, having been stranded in Vancouver as a result of visa problems. The two day stop-off turned into two weeks but Khan insists it hasn’t interupted his training camp ahead of Saturday’s world title fight against New Yorker Paulie Malignaggi.
The flashy youngster is launching his worldwide Khan-initiative and he intends to make his mark at Madison Square Garden on Saturday by beating local favourite Malignaggi in his own backyard.
It’s hard to say if beating a local hero will endear Khan to Americans, but there is no denying he has aspirations to become an international brand.
He is the darling of the British boxing scene and has been ever since he clinched a silver medal as a 17-year-old at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Such was the interest in him his final amateur fight, a rematch against gold medallist Mario Kindelán, was screened live on primetime terrestrial TV. When you consider it’s rare to even get a big bout on British television it makes the fact an amateur match was viewed with huge audience figures even more remarkable. Since then he has had his own TV programmes, become an advertising face and even appeared on Family Fortunes, surely the crowning glory for any Olympian.
However there has also been something of a minor Khan backlash. Maybe it’s not fair to say “The pride of Bolton” has been wrapped in cotton-wool but he has perhaps been a touch mollycoddled during his professional career. He hasn’t come through the clubs grafting for his shot like most fighters, every one of his fights has been highly publicised and screened on TV or pay-per view, leading to accusations that his career is being tailored for success by his management team.
He hasn’t helped things by fanning the flames with ridiculous statements like "People appreciate what you achieve in America whereas you don't see that in Britain” and "I know for a fact if I were a white English fighter maybe I would have been a superstar in Britain, and the world."
The first cracks in the hull of the good ship Khan appeared when he was embarrassingly destroyed by Columbian Breidis Prescott in 54 seconds, a brutal knockout that put his whole career in jeopardy. As a result Khan shrewdly joined forces with boxing trainer-supreme Freddie Roach, who masterminded his return with a morale-boosting victory over the legendary Marco Barrera, his first world title against Andriy Kotelnik and an impressive first-round KO of undefeated American contender Dmitri Salita. This has firmly re-established Khan as one of the top young prospects with the general consensus that the Prescott bout was a blip.
After the Salita fight, Khan announced his intentions to leave Frank Warren and sign with Golden Boy Promotions, the clearest sign that he wants to make it stateside as Oscar Del La Hoya’s brand presents him with avenues into the US he might not have got otherwise.
It’s now up to Khan to capture the American market, with the help of some glowing references from De la Hoya who knows a thing or two about light-welterweights.
Khan’s major selling point will be his ferocious hand speed. American fight fans are in for a treat when they get a good close look at the Englishman’s pacey paws, providing they don’t blink. The boy is so fast he makes lightning look slow and sparring week in week out with fastest-gloves-in-the-west Manny Pacquiao in Roach’s gym is only going to take him up another level.
An exciting fighter with Usain Bolt-fists Khan is perfect for American audiences that have been starved of thrilling fighters. There’s no question America has taken to Pacquiao, many even prefer him to their own home-grown Floyd Mayweather and Khan is certainly from the same mould as the Filipino. He’s fast exciting and on his day devastating, overwhelming his opponent with an enormous quantity of shots.
Khan is a combination thrower; he is all about his glove blurring fleetness. He likes to stand on the outside before stepping in to pick off his opponents with swift head shots and hooks; he’s also added power to pace as his devastating destruction of Salita showed. A brutal right-hander had the American down within seconds and he never recovered from that dropping twice more for a TKO.
In fact in boxing terms there is only one thing that has been questioned about Khan, his chin. It has never been properly tested; well it was once by Prescott and it failed to pass. Against Kotelnik to be fair he did take a few hits in what must rank as his most composed fight to date, a slick, tenacious display, but doubts remain about his ability to take a punch. Roach has been working with him on this, but if your chinny, you are chinny, there’s not a great deal you can do.
Of course in America you have to sell tickets and Khan is now doing what all boxers do when faced with the task of self promotion. Third-person references. Amir Khan won’t tell you what Amir Khan’s plans are without Amir Khan mentioning Amir Khan a million times these days.
In his last few fights Khan has attempted to trash-talk as well. When you consider that he built his reputation in the UK as a well-mannered quiet young man, who held religion, family and being physically and mentally healthy as the pillars he built his life on, you can’t see him become Mike Tyson over night. It doesn’t really make sense and who said Americans always buy into trash-talking anyway. They had Muhammad Ali who practically invented trash-talking; they don’t need watered-down versions.
If he sticks to his boxing he should make a real impact on the fight scene in the States. Roach is a canny match-maker and Malignaggi is the perfect example of what he can set up for Khan, a big name who won’t test his chin.
So overall can Bolton’s favourite son make it in the USA? In the words of the nation’s president Barrack Obama,
Yes he Khan.
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