Khan potential for greatness... or disaster

[Taeth]

I felt he put too many rounds away early in the fight to lose it, but I see two things with Amir Khan.
1. This guy has tremendous heart, I think he redeemed his chin a lot this fight, and he better speed than Mayweather or Pacquiao, I was flabbergasted by his speed.
2. He still has all the same problems Pacquiao does, without the big power or incredible stamina. He covers up on the inside and doesn't tie up, he is only effective offensively at certain ranges, but he also only effective defensively at certain distances as well. If you fought Khan at the right distance you could probably get him to not throw a punch the entire fight, and you could land at will on him. THe one thing that he doesn't have that pAcquiao does is that Manny always punches back right away.

If Khan is going to stay with Roach, he will really have to start working on even better stamina though I thought he was in pretty good shape, and he needs to really focus on defense because Manny has otherwordly skills in different areas that allow him to fight this way to effectively against almost anyone. I've seen many Roach fighters fight in a similar style, but only Manny has really dominated consistently with the hoping in and out combination style.

[Kev]

I felt he put too many rounds away early in the fight to lose it, but I see two things with Amir Khan.
1. This guy has tremendous heart, I think he redeemed his chin a lot this fight, and he better speed than Mayweather or Pacquiao, I was flabbergasted by his speed.
2. He still has all the same problems Pacquiao does, without the big power or incredible stamina. He covers up on the inside and doesn't tie up, he is only effective offensively at certain ranges, but he also only effective defensively at certain distances as well. If you fought Khan at the right distance you could probably get him to not throw a punch the entire fight, and you could land at will on him. THe one thing that he doesn't have that pAcquiao does is that Manny always punches back right away.

If Khan is going to stay with Roach, he will really have to start working on even better stamina though I thought he was in pretty good shape, and he needs to really focus on defense because Manny has otherwordly skills in different areas that allow him to fight this way to effectively against almost anyone. I've seen many Roach fighters fight in a similar style, but only Manny has really dominated consistently with the hoping in and out combination style.

I completely disagree about Khan not having stamina. His conditioning was incredible. You don't make it through desperate situations like that 10th round without being in asbolutely top physical condition.

Khan was hurt and rocked many times by a monster puncher and stood up (just) to the pressure. He may lose a lot of energy through being something of a nervous bundle but anyone can see he is in fantastic shape.

[ICB]

He will never ever be great, he's good fighter but he has too many flaws. And there's too many good fighters around him at the moment, i can't see him beating Timothy Bradley nor can i see him beating the top boys at Welterweight.

He will have an exciting career and will probably win, another world title in another weightclass at some point.

He showed good heart and better survival skills, but i've always thought he had heart and decent survival skills. Its just he got caught cold vs Breidis Prescott.

And to be honest he should of had an easier time vs Marcos Maidana, because he is very limited. But as i said before its a step in the right direction for Amir Khan. But his defense is still very leaky.

And he should stick to the gameplan of boxing, and not being macho and trying to trade, because that attitude will get him KO'ed.

He got hit far too much, i mean for all his speed. He's quite easy to tag which is suprising. Even Marcos Maidana's wide slow shots hit the target too many times.

But all in all its good to step him finally step up, lets hope thats a taster for things to come.

[Mark TKO]

his stocks really gone up after that as he can now sell an exciting fight and the ££££ will roll in.

He will be destined for great fights but not greatness - though at same time another knockout loss could shatter his career.

I just watched fight again and can't believe he survived that tenth round so credit to him.

I had him a comfortable UD winner last night for his early work and haven't changed my mind after rewatching BUT I think Maidana got the better of him physically in the fight overall - if you know what I mean here Apart from first Maidana wasnt really in trouble - and I am still amazed he managed to get up from that body shot !

I think he will have an easier time against Bradley than he did last mind

[Kev]

He will never ever be great, he's good fighter but he has too many flaws. And there's too many good fighters around him at the moment, i can't see him beating Timothy Bradley nor can i see him beating the top boys at Welterweight.

He will have an exciting career and will probably win, another world title in another weightclass at some point.

He showed good heart and better survival skills, but i've always thought he had heart and decent survival skills. Its just he got caught cold vs Breidis Prescott.

And to be honest he should of had an easier time vs Marcos Maidana, because he is very limited. But as i said before its a step in the right direction for Amir Khan. But his defense is still very leaky.

And he should stick to the gameplan of boxing, and not being macho and trying to trade, because that attitude will get him KO'ed.

He got hit far too much, i mean for all his speed. He's quite easy to tag which is suprising. Even Marcos Maidana's wide slow shots hit the target too many times.

But all in all its good to step him finally step up, lets hope thats a taster for things to come.

That's only an opinion though, and not backed up by any facts. Nobody has ever had an easy time with him. According to many he should have been undefeated coming to the fight with Khan.

He might be like Carl Froch, in the way that everyone has been saying for years 'Of course when he fights an elite fighter he will get picked apart and exposed the crude slugger he is.'. Well after fights against Pascal, Taylor, Dirrell, Kessler and Abraham nobody has had an easy night's work with him yet. I think Maidana may well be like that, you see his flaws and so presume the tops guys should have an easy nights work with him, but it may well not work out like that.

[bcollins]

He will never ever be great, he's good fighter but he has too many flaws. And there's too many good fighters around him at the moment, i can't see him beating Timothy Bradley nor can i see him beating the top boys at Welterweight.

He will have an exciting career and will probably win, another world title in another weightclass at some point.

He showed good heart and better survival skills, but i've always thought he had heart and decent survival skills. Its just he got caught cold vs Breidis Prescott.

And to be honest he should of had an easier time vs Marcos Maidana, because he is very limited. But as i said before its a step in the right direction for Amir Khan. But his defense is still very leaky.

And he should stick to the gameplan of boxing, and not being macho and trying to trade, because that attitude will get him KO'ed.

He got hit far too much, i mean for all his speed. He's quite easy to tag which is suprising. Even Marcos Maidana's wide slow shots hit the target too many times.

But all in all its good to step him finally step up, lets hope thats a taster for things to come.

That's only an opinion though, and not backed up by any facts. Nobody has ever had an easy time with him. According to many he should have been undefeated coming to the fight with Khan.

He might be like Carl Froch, in the way that everyone has been saying for years 'Of course when he fights an elite fighter he will get picked apart and exposed the crude slugger he is.'. Well after fights against Pascal, Taylor, Dirrell, Kessler and Abraham nobody has had an easy night's work with him yet. I think Maidana may well be like that, you see his flaws and so presume the tops guys should have an easy nights work with him, but it may well not work out like that.

That's a great point. A lot of people get blinded by superlative skills, and forget that that is not the sum total of a successful boxer. Maidana is a prime example - he gets by with almost no skill to speak of. He fights with power and heart, a slow plodding style that should be a breeze to pick apart. Yet he gets in there and proves a tough night's work for the highest level of competition.

Boxing history is chock full of fighters who defied the assumption that skill always wins.

[:::PSL:::]

Give the kid a chance ICB. I think he's gettin there slowly. Roach and Ariza are leading him to the right path. You're right, Khan has many flaws. But he's only 24 years old and he's pretty right on schedule if you compare it to Manny's fight history.

Now. Is it just me, or Khan emulates Pac too much?

[:::PSL:::]

Question to Khan supporters...

How many times did you look at the boxing clock on your monitor screen last night?



Bwoy. Whew! The fight was like a freaking heart dropping roller coaster ride.

[Kev]

He will never ever be great, he's good fighter but he has too many flaws. And there's too many good fighters around him at the moment, i can't see him beating Timothy Bradley nor can i see him beating the top boys at Welterweight.

He will have an exciting career and will probably win, another world title in another weightclass at some point.

He showed good heart and better survival skills, but i've always thought he had heart and decent survival skills. Its just he got caught cold vs Breidis Prescott.

And to be honest he should of had an easier time vs Marcos Maidana, because he is very limited. But as i said before its a step in the right direction for Amir Khan. But his defense is still very leaky.

And he should stick to the gameplan of boxing, and not being macho and trying to trade, because that attitude will get him KO'ed.

He got hit far too much, i mean for all his speed. He's quite easy to tag which is suprising. Even Marcos Maidana's wide slow shots hit the target too many times.

But all in all its good to step him finally step up, lets hope thats a taster for things to come.

That's only an opinion though, and not backed up by any facts. Nobody has ever had an easy time with him. According to many he should have been undefeated coming to the fight with Khan.

He might be like Carl Froch, in the way that everyone has been saying for years 'Of course when he fights an elite fighter he will get picked apart and exposed the crude slugger he is.'. Well after fights against Pascal, Taylor, Dirrell, Kessler and Abraham nobody has had an easy night's work with him yet. I think Maidana may well be like that, you see his flaws and so presume the tops guys should have an easy nights work with him, but it may well not work out like that.

That's a great point. A lot of people get blinded by superlative skills, and forget that that is not the sum total of a successful boxer. Maidana is a prime example - he gets by with almost no skill to speak of. He fights with power and heart, a slow plodding style that should be a breeze to pick apart. Yet he gets in there and proves a tough night's work for the highest level of competition.

Boxing history is chock full of fighters who defied the assumption that skill always wins.

Exactly, when it came to boxing skills Amir DID handle him easily and was quickly piling up the points in the early rounds. But Maidana's heart, endurance, toughness and ability to absorb punishment are simply outstanding. He absolutely has a world class chin and toughness.

What I cannot understand from Ice though is that he is big on Lucian Bute despite first time around getting completely smashed in the last round by Librado Andrade, again a fight with practically zero fighting skills. He was completely wrecked in that last round and is so lucky not to have a ko loss on his record.
Andrade went something like 0-16 as an amatuer, he is all heart.

Unfortunately for Andrade I think he has now absorbed too much punishment in his career in bruising beatdowns against Bute and Kessler, and his toughness will be diminishing, in the same way as Edison Miranda's has been.

In subsequent fights I expect Miranda, Andrade and Maidanan to slip as their fighting styles do not lend themselves to long careers.

So Maidana may well get taken out early in future fights.

But lets not use that as an excuse to diminish his abilities now. He wrecked one boxing's hottest prospects in Victor Ortiz. Khan stood up to him.

Devon Alexander was almost ruined by Kotelnik, a fighter who Khan breezed past.

On the form guide now I think it's going to be a Bradley/Khan winner takes all fight, and I think Khan will surprise everyone by completely dominating that fight.

I think Khan stops Alexander and wins by at least 3 or 4 rounds against Bradley.

[Cressa121]

He will never ever be great, he's good fighter but he has too many flaws. And there's too many good fighters around him at the moment, i can't see him beating Timothy Bradley nor can i see him beating the top boys at Welterweight.

He will have an exciting career and will probably win, another world title in another weightclass at some point.

He showed good heart and better survival skills, but i've always thought he had heart and decent survival skills. Its just he got caught cold vs Breidis Prescott.

And to be honest he should of had an easier time vs Marcos Maidana, because he is very limited. But as i said before its a step in the right direction for Amir Khan. But his defense is still very leaky.

And he should stick to the gameplan of boxing, and not being macho and trying to trade, because that attitude will get him KO'ed.

He got hit far too much, i mean for all his speed. He's quite easy to tag which is suprising. Even Marcos Maidana's wide slow shots hit the target too many times.

But all in all its good to step him finally step up, lets hope thats a taster for things to come.

That's only an opinion though, and not backed up by any facts. Nobody has ever had an easy time with him. According to many he should have been undefeated coming to the fight with Khan.

He might be like Carl Froch, in the way that everyone has been saying for years 'Of course when he fights an elite fighter he will get picked apart and exposed the crude slugger he is.'. Well after fights against Pascal, Taylor, Dirrell, Kessler and Abraham nobody has had an easy night's work with him yet. I think Maidana may well be like that, you see his flaws and so presume the tops guys should have an easy nights work with him, but it may well not work out like that.

That's a great point. A lot of people get blinded by superlative skills, and forget that that is not the sum total of a successful boxer. Maidana is a prime example - he gets by with almost no skill to speak of. He fights with power and heart, a slow plodding style that should be a breeze to pick apart. Yet he gets in there and proves a tough night's work for the highest level of competition.

Boxing history is chock full of fighters who defied the assumption that skill always wins.

Exactly, when it came to boxing skills Amir DID handle him easily and was quickly piling up the points in the early rounds. But Maidana's heart, endurance, toughness and ability to absorb punishment are simply outstanding. He absolutely has a world class chin and toughness.

What I cannot understand from Ice though is that he is big on Lucian Bute despite first time around getting completely smashed in the last round by Librado Andrade, again a fight with practically zero fighting skills. He was completely wrecked in that last round and is so lucky not to have a ko loss on his record.
Andrade went something like 0-16 as an amatuer, he is all heart.

Unfortunately for Andrade I think he has now absorbed too much punishment in his career in bruising beatdowns against Bute and Kessler, and his toughness will be diminishing, in the same way as Edison Miranda's has been.

In subsequent fights I expect Miranda, Andrade and Maidanan to slip as their fighting styles do not lend themselves to long careers.

So Maidana may well get taken out early in future fights.

But lets not use that as an excuse to diminish his abilities now. He wrecked one boxing's hottest prospects in Victor Ortiz. Khan stood up to him.

Devon Alexander was almost ruined by Kotelnik, a fighter who Khan breezed past.

On the form guide now I think it's going to be a Bradley/Khan winner takes all fight, and I think Khan will surprise everyone by completely dominating that fight.

I think Khan stops Alexander and wins by at least 3 or 4 rounds against Bradley.

Ruined? Come on, he won a disputable decision and the fight exposed some obvious limitations. If he hadn't got the decision it would have been a major setback, but he wouldn't have been ruined.

[ICB]

He will never ever be great, he's good fighter but he has too many flaws. And there's too many good fighters around him at the moment, i can't see him beating Timothy Bradley nor can i see him beating the top boys at Welterweight.

He will have an exciting career and will probably win, another world title in another weightclass at some point.

He showed good heart and better survival skills, but i've always thought he had heart and decent survival skills. Its just he got caught cold vs Breidis Prescott.

And to be honest he should of had an easier time vs Marcos Maidana, because he is very limited. But as i said before its a step in the right direction for Amir Khan. But his defense is still very leaky.

And he should stick to the gameplan of boxing, and not being macho and trying to trade, because that attitude will get him KO'ed.

He got hit far too much, i mean for all his speed. He's quite easy to tag which is suprising. Even Marcos Maidana's wide slow shots hit the target too many times.

But all in all its good to step him finally step up, lets hope thats a taster for things to come.

That's only an opinion though, and not backed up by any facts. Nobody has ever had an easy time with him. According to many he should have been undefeated coming to the fight with Khan.

He might be like Carl Froch, in the way that everyone has been saying for years 'Of course when he fights an elite fighter he will get picked apart and exposed the crude slugger he is.'. Well after fights against Pascal, Taylor, Dirrell, Kessler and Abraham nobody has had an easy night's work with him yet. I think Maidana may well be like that, you see his flaws and so presume the tops guys should have an easy nights work with him, but it may well not work out like that.

That's a great point. A lot of people get blinded by superlative skills, and forget that that is not the sum total of a successful boxer. Maidana is a prime example - he gets by with almost no skill to speak of. He fights with power and heart, a slow plodding style that should be a breeze to pick apart. Yet he gets in there and proves a tough night's work for the highest level of competition.

Boxing history is chock full of fighters who defied the assumption that skill always wins.

Exactly, when it came to boxing skills Amir DID handle him easily and was quickly piling up the points in the early rounds. But Maidana's heart, endurance, toughness and ability to absorb punishment are simply outstanding. He absolutely has a world class chin and toughness.

What I cannot understand from Ice though is that he is big on Lucian Bute despite first time around getting completely smashed in the last round by Librado Andrade, again a fight with practically zero fighting skills. He was completely wrecked in that last round and is so lucky not to have a ko loss on his record.
Andrade went something like 0-16 as an amatuer, he is all heart.

Unfortunately for Andrade I think he has now absorbed too much punishment in his career in bruising beatdowns against Bute and Kessler, and his toughness will be diminishing, in the same way as Edison Miranda's has been.

In subsequent fights I expect Miranda, Andrade and Maidanan to slip as their fighting styles do not lend themselves to long careers.

So Maidana may well get taken out early in future fights.

But lets not use that as an excuse to diminish his abilities now. He wrecked one boxing's hottest prospects in Victor Ortiz. Khan stood up to him.

Devon Alexander was almost ruined by Kotelnik, a fighter who Khan breezed past.

On the form guide now I think it's going to be a Bradley/Khan winner takes all fight, and I think Khan will surprise everyone by completely dominating that fight.

I think Khan stops Alexander and wins by at least 3 or 4 rounds against Bradley.

Lucian Bute made one mistake by trading in the last round, which he almost payed for but didn't. Apart from that he dominated the fight, and never looked in trouble apart from when he stupidly traded.

Thats alot different to Amir Khan being out on his feet, in atleast 7 rounds. Im not trying to take anything away from Amir Khan.

I've already gave him credit and i think its a step in the right direction, but i still see massive flaws in Amir Khan. And he got caught far too much and he could of made it alot easier for himself.

He still looks very vulnerable, and had Marcos Maidana not kept smothering his work. He probably would of finished Amir Khan off.

Was it a brave performance ? yes of course it was. But the fight to me also showed up Amir Khan's major flaws.

Atleast Lucian Bute fought a big puncher in Alejandro Berrio, and won convincingly without ever really looking in trouble. He also destroyed Librado Andrade in the rematch, and has learnt from his mistakes.

Has Amir Khan though ? he's still very macho which is stupid, because his chin isn't great. He loses his game plan completely anytime he gets tagged. And he uses up too much nervous energy

Yes maybe he can improve, but then again maybe he can't. But i still don't see him beating some of the top boys.

[generalbulldog]

When has Maidana been an "easy" fight? Kotelnik and Ortiz would disagree with that. And Khan was out for 2 1/2 rounds starting from the last half of the 10th round, not an entire 7 rounds. And woulda coulda shoulda finish him off. Maidana had 2 1/2 rounds to do that.

[Snakey]

I think ICB is right..I havent seen the fight but I agree with his theory. I think hes saying Khan was good....but lets not call him the next big thing like sooooo many fighters get hailed as. Everytime after people see a good performance they go "oh wow hes awesome, hes definitely going to be the best in the division" and then all of a sudden the guy gets hammered in the next fight and he was just a "hype job". I think ICE is just adding objective criticism, i dont remember reading things like "i hate Khan" just fair comments.

[Spicoli]

He'll always have that shadow over him and good deal of problems may come down to trying to disprove them. He needed this tough battle and rocky moments...be seen getting rocked and recovered. Long way to go for him but as a fan I think more of him then I did the night prior.

[sleepless]

This is khan's first solid test and it appears he's a bit on a shaky side. But then again, the important thing is he survived it. but if greatness is what we're talking about, if people will embrace khan's character i do think he can be great. because the talent,explosiveness,heart and willingness are all there. Ricky Hatton is already gone so im thinking who's the next most talented fighter they have out there who's got the real chance to be great and bring honor to his country. i don't think there is anyone but khan as of now, but with khan's uncharismatic attitude it's hard for him to get what hatton had enjoyed for years. "the unconditional love of the fans"