To establish himself as a top welterweight contender, Amir Khan needs to test his chin
Still early on in his professional career, Amir Khan’s story is an interesting one. He began boxing at the age of 11, and went on to win a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. That was big time. Then he turned professional, made his way through the lightweight ranks, and won the Commonwealth lightweight title. With a new trainer, Jorge Rubio, he took on up-and-comer Breidis Prescott, who then brandished a 19-0 record with 17 KOs. And that’s where things got interesting. To the shock of most, Khan suffered a terrible first round knockout. Everything seemed lost.
Since then, he’s hooked up with Freddie Roach, trained with Manny Pacquiao, and won the WBA light welterweight title, which he currently holds. But more than that, he’s done at fair job at convincing some that he’s back at the top of his game, and a legitimate contender for other top light welterweights like Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley. The question everyone’s asking is: how legitimate is Khan?
After all, it’s kind of hard to believe, despite what Khan says, that after only three fights in the light welterweight division he’s the best man lobbying there. This is especially hard to believe, of course, due to his knockout loss to Prescott two years ago (a fight which he has yet to attempt to avenge).
Probably most noteworthy in light of the recent Devon Alexander – Andriy Kotelnik bout is that fact that Khan can claim bragging rights, since he already defeated Kotelnik in a 12 round decision back in July of last year. In that bout, there was little denying that he won whereas Alexander's victory of Kotelnik was marred by controversy, with several commentators believing the decision should have gone the other way. That’s what spurred Khan to recently say that Alexander is “vulnerable,” and that he believes he can beat him. Regardless, he may have to wait until after a bout between Alexander and Bradley to determine the unofficial king of the division.
The truth is that Khan is on the cusp of being declared a legitimate titlist, but he’s suffered most from overhype that can’t be qualified yet. Look at the facts: he had a good amateur career (60-10), and an especially boastful Olympic run, which generated a massive amount of hype for his corner. But it’s clear now that might have been a bit pre-emptive.
The looming fear with is that Khan doesn’t have a world-class chin, a boxing virtue often overlooked. And so far this fear goes a long way. It’s not just the Prescott knockout, though it is chiefly that. It’s also the competition he’s taken on since. It’s almost as if Roach has been shielding him from the hitters. He beat an over-the-hill Marco Antonio Barrera, sure, but his lone three title defences have seen him against the likes of guys who couldn’t blow a candle out in the wind. The respected Kotelnik has 13 KOs in 31 wins; Salita, 16 in 30 wins; and Malignaggi, a sad 5 KOs in 27 professional wins. These guys are all contenders. But lacking knockout power, they will never be lasting champions, because that is one of the cardinal traits of a lasting or unified champion.
In order to establish himself at the light welterweight division, what Khan needs to do is take out either Bradley or Alexander. And since these two are arranging a fight of their own, the best he can do in the meantime is take out other top contenders, like Marcos Maidana. Maidana had a loss handed to him by Kotelnik, but what he lacks in overall game he makes up for in knockout rate, which is why he’d be an excellent choice for Khan to prove himself. Maidana (28-1, 27 KOs) has knocked out every single fighter he’s beat, save for one Now it’s easy to see that with a fight like this, the stakes and rewards couldn’t be higher.
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