
Originally Posted by
clintuk

Originally Posted by
Bilbo
Where exactly has all this 'bigging up' regarding his win over Barrera taken place? All I've seen online is every man and his dog whining about the cut and how the fight should have been stopped and ruled a NC.
Care to post some links to these 'bigging up' sensationalised reports that are irritating you so much?
Fair do's, it's not all over the place, but there are a couple of articles that I found a bit annoying, and the couple of days after the victory there was a lot of talk about Khan being amazing against Barerra, but really it was a flawed win, even though I can see he's improved.
BBC SPORT | Boxing | Bloodied Barrera beaten by Khan
This one talks about him having a classy performance which in no way could have been verified in the nature the win took place.
Khan shows he's the real deal | The Sun |Sport|Boxing
Khan proves he's the real deal? stuff about proving his pedigree, not quite justified really.
Sky Sports | Boxing | News | Khan a cut above Barrera
The victory came in the 5th round but was inevitable due to Khan's dominance.
So yeah there's a couple of articles, and I know what you're saying, most boxing experts and websites with credible writers will mention the Khan fight was disappointing. But most novice fans in the UK are sold by that win, and at the end of the day if you're selling PPV's you want to encourage the majority to take notice.
I don't think any of those articles were over the top to be honest. They all mentioned Barrera was badly cut early (which he was) but that Khan's display was composed, classy and confident (which it was) and that his youth, size and speed allowed him to control the fight and win every round (which he did)
I just think people are predisposed to hate on Khan and so it irks them that he beat Barrera. Yes Barrera was cut early but aside from his legendary name he did nothing in the 5 rounds that actually took place to suggest he could compete with a much faster, younger, stronger and bigger opponent on the night.
If you insist that the cut be taken into account as a big factor (and I agree) then you also have to recognise that Khan himself boxed superbly and won every single round.
People on here are trying to argue as if Barrera would have won easily had he not been cut but the rounds we saw didn't back that up.
Many fighters have been cut terribly in fights and still been a nightmare for their opponent. A battered and bloodied Henry Cooper almost KO'd Muhammad Ali and he gave him a tough rematch too despite being badly cut.
Vitali badly cut was winning on all scorecards against Lennox Lewis.
Fernando Vargas only had one eye for most of his fight with Shane Mosely yet went toe to toe and gave him all kinds of trouble before it was stopped, so much so that they had an immediate rematch.
My point is just becuase a fighter is badly cut it doesn't mean that he will lose every single round in a fight. Even lesser fighters like Sergio Mora overcame a first or second round cut against Manfredo and managed to claw his way back into the fight and win a controversial decision.
Having a cut is a handicap no doubt, but it doesn't mean it's impossible to win a round of boxing like that, in fact I can't off the top of my head think of any great fighter who when cut just got completely outclassed and lost every remaining round until the fight was stopped, can you?
I think the cut has turned out to be worse for Amir than Barrera as it has tarnished his win and led to many people ignoring the great display he put on. He won every single round, not soley because of the cut but also because he was too fast, too big, too strong, too young for an aged and battleworn Marco Antonio Barrera.
It doesn't take anything away from Barrera to admit this. The man is a legend and in his prime it may have been a completely different story but at 35, coming out of retirement and moving up to a higher weight class he was just giving up too much in terms of youth, speed, height, reach, strength etc.
And if you (not just you but the haters in general) still want to say it was all the cut then just provide any other example of a fighter being cut who then lost every single round from that point and was not competitive at all even though they were winning or giving as good as they got beforehand.
A single example will suffice.
A cut can seriously hamper you I agree, but great fighters throughout history have fought with cuts and still been competitive.
And this ultimately is my point. I have no problem with those who feel the fight should have been stopped and ruled a NC. That's a perfectly acceptable and fair decision, it was a serious cut and dangerous to fight with.
But the cut doesn't soley account for the 5 great rounds of boxing that Amir put on. The cut gave him an advantage but he still had to demonstrate the necessary skills and ability to win the rounds.
So you can be both disappointed in the result and the cut, but still give credit to Amir Khan for putting on a great display.
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