amir khans best night- a positive article for a change

by eddyfightfan Sat 15 Jun 2013, 5:47 pm

ever since the garcia fight khan has not looked the same, this we can all agree. i have a theory that after that fight, which he was caught by a hard left that put morales out in exactly the same way so is nothing to be ashamed of its his confidence not his chin that has gone. amir has proved against peterson, and maidana he can take a shot and still win. more recently however even light punchers like diaz give him bambi legs with any big shots. i hope amir can overcome this and get back up to the same heights he once was. this is just a thought however, and since most khan posts are negative i thought i spin it around open up a more positive one about him.

what do you think is khans most impressive win? amatuer or pro at any stage of his career. i'll put forward two possibilitys...

first, paulie malignaggi. khan was the underdog going into this and paulie had gained a world title in his previous fight. khan dominated the fight and forced a late stoppage. this really boosted khans profile and made his name in the US

lastly, zab judah, although at the time most, me included though zab was past it, he had only dropped a close TD to clottey since 2007 and his showing against garcia recently suggests he has more left than orginally thought. his close battle with matteysse on reflection also boosts zabs credibility in my opinion, and khan ripped him apart like nobody else has managed to do.

any other fights that stand out for you?

by All Time Great Sat 15 Jun 2013, 6:11 pm

I don't think Zab & Paulie were great wins.

Only one of real note was against Maidana, as at the time it was two top 4 bonafide LWW's going at it. Khan came out on top, albeit was close to getting stopped in round 10.

Khan is most definitely not finished. Just going through a bit of a transition period with a new trainer. He could well become a top WW still.

by WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs Sat 15 Jun 2013, 6:14 pm

Judah was the best performance, he was punch perfect

Maidana was the best win

by winchester Sat 15 Jun 2013, 6:20 pm

Khan is a good boxer but he has a glass chin so he will never reach the top. Hes too much of a liability when he boxes. He might have been better suited to staying as an amateur but I think the lure of the money he could make was too much. I find it very exciting watching him box because anything could happen at anytime with him. One minute hes doing great and the next hes knocked down. Unfortunately I think a top fighter will always expose his chin but his fights are real edge of the seat stuff.

by Nico the gman Sat 15 Jun 2013, 6:33 pm

Like him or not Khan has already reached the top he was world champ wasn't he.

by John Bloody Wayne Sat 15 Jun 2013, 6:42 pm

How time changes things! After the annihilation of Judah I genuinely believed, Mayweather and Pacquiao aside, he might start as favourite vs anyone from 140 to 147. Judah's fights immediately before and since that fight have only made the win look more impressive. The way he raided at will and moved away when he wanted made Zab look like he was in slow motion, and even an old Judah isn't slow by any means. Not as lazer fast as he once was, but still quick and with power to spare.

For me that's his best performance by far. I'd fancy Maidana to reverse things in a rematch.

Was Amir underdog vs Paulie? I thought he seemed fairly hand picked at the time, given his inability to take advantage of Khan's most obvious flaw.

by ONETWOFOREVER Sat 15 Jun 2013, 7:08 pm

I think his win against Barerra was his best win as Barrera was/is a legend and Khan totally destroyed him.

by bellchees Sat 15 Jun 2013, 7:17 pm

Amir was no underdog against Paulie he was a heavy favourite and for good reason.

Best performance for me is Kotelnik. First world title fight against a very very good opponent and he pretty much shut him out. It's a shame Khan talked down that win really by claiming Kotelnik was the worst active world champion. Kotelnik beat Maidana just about, lost very narrowly to Witter (I scored it a draw), smashed Rees and got robbed blind by Alexander so he was a pretty comfortable at world level and no one beat him as easily as Amir did.

by WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs Sat 15 Jun 2013, 7:18 pm

You mean the 35 year old, past his best natural featherweight in Barrera who was stopped because of a cut

by RanjitPatel Sat 15 Jun 2013, 7:24 pm

Kotelnik to win his first world title or Judah. Khan was brilliant in both and made two world champions look silly at times. Remember Kotelnik being described as one of the worst world champs ever but he was decent and gave hard nights to a lot of other good fighters and probably deserved wins against a few too.

Looked on Will Hill earlier and there's odds on Khan Garcia and Khan is the favourite. They put odds out for fights that may happen but I cant see how Khan would be fav for that.

by winchester Sat 15 Jun 2013, 7:25 pm

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:I think his win against Barerra was his best win as Barrera was/is a legend and Khan totally destroyed him.

Berrera was a shopworn fighter when he boxed Khan. He also suffered a terrible cut in that fight. I wouldnt really count that fight.

by RanjitPatel Sat 15 Jun 2013, 7:57 pm

Kotelnik to win his first world title or Judah. Khan was brilliant in both and made two world champions look silly at times. Remember Kotelnik being described as one of the worst world champs ever but he was decent and gave hard nights to a lot of other good fighters and probably deserved wins against a few too.

Looked on Will Hill earlier and there's odds on Khan Garcia and Khan is the favourite. They put odds out for fights that may happen but I cant see how Khan would be fav for that.

by eddyfightfan Sat 15 Jun 2013, 8:28 pm

bellchees wrote:Amir was no underdog against Paulie he was a heavy favourite and for good reason.

Best performance for me is Kotelnik. First world title fight against a very very good opponent and he pretty much shut him out. It's a shame Khan talked down that win really by claiming Kotelnik was the worst active world champion. Kotelnik beat Maidana just about, lost very narrowly to Witter (I scored it a draw), smashed Rees and got robbed blind by Alexander so he was a pretty comfortable at world level and no one beat him as easily as Amir did.

maybe over here, but the HBO team fancied paulie, and i think because of the prescot loss the US still had reservations

by Guest Sat 15 Jun 2013, 8:30 pm

Khan was something like 1/6 against Paulie. Massive favourite in that fight.

by Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn Sat 15 Jun 2013, 9:11 pm

Paulie wasn't a world champion either as far as I'm aware. He was challenging Khan for the WBA belt that Khan held. Before Khan Paulie got revenge on Juan Diaz which was for some Micky mouse WBO inter-nonsense type belt. But as others have mentioned Khan was very heavy favourite going into that fight. HBO might have fancied Paulie, but that was about it

by TRUSSMAN66 Sat 15 Jun 2013, 10:54 pm

Marcos Maidana is his best win................Judah, Marco and Paulie were all damaged goods...

by Boxtthis Sat 15 Jun 2013, 11:33 pm

Kotelnik was a solid win - he was a guy that had other top 5 guys struggling (Maidana & Alexander)

He took Malignaggi apart in what I thought was a very good display. Malignaggi isn't great but he's no mug, and Amir beat him to the punch all night

Maidana was maybe his best win. The guy is a handful for most at 140/147 and Khan outboxed him for the most part - and hurt him in the 1st. Coupled with the whole surviving adversity thing, I think this might be Khan's defining win

He took apart a still capable Zab Judah (who just gave Garcia a close fight) - never let him in the fight and sapped his confidence up until the half KO/half quit. It's between this and Maidana for me.

He all know Khan's flaws with his chin, his lack of inside defense, and his disposition towards panicking/expending energy/trading at the wrong time when in trouble. But, he's got a decent ledger (coupled with a very close/controversial loss to Peterson in which his opponent was juiced up). I think he deserves his spot around 3-5th in the LWW rankings. Always fun to watch as well. Don't see him ever making a long, dominant, consistent run at the top though - he just has too many flaws.

by Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn Sat 15 Jun 2013, 11:39 pm

Boxing styles are like Rock Paper Scissors and the paper is to the rock what a heavy punch and decent chin are to Amir Khan

by All Time Great Sun 16 Jun 2013, 1:27 am

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Boxing styles are like Rock Paper Scissors and the paper is to the rock what a heavy punch and decent chin are to Amir Khan

Khan has a decent chin, regardless of what people think. That shot he took against Maidana was murderous and he still stayed on his feet. Against Garcia as well, he rose to his feet and potentially was stopped by the ref prematurely.

His real problem is he has a terrible inside defence, is wide open to the left hook when he jumps in with combinations and trades when unnecessary. To be honest, rectifiable problems...

His hand speed is probably the best in the world at the moment. Khan is heavily under rated on these boards.

by sittingringside Sun 16 Jun 2013, 10:03 am

Khan has a chance against anyone at 140, but it's hard to make him favourite against the top 3-4 men because the flaws people spotted when he was 21 are still there 5 years on. It's a shame really because he is offensively talented, and in his blazing speed he has the kind of x-factor attribute to trouble top fighters. It seems like he can't get the hang of concentrating and controlling a fight for 12 rounds, and this means he will always offer up chances, which top level opponents will take more often than not.

by sittingringside Sun 16 Jun 2013, 10:06 am

That's best night was against Maidana. Even though it wasn't a polished performance, it at least smashed the idea that Khan was scared of tough fighters with big punches.

by KC Sun 16 Jun 2013, 11:15 am

"Against Garcia as well, he rose to his feet and potentially was stopped by the ref prematurely."

NO WAY - ref did him a favour as he could have been seriously hurt if it had carried on. Khan didn't have the power to trouble Garcia before the 1st knockdown, afterwards what power he had was drained out of him by the effect of Garcia's punches & he could walk straight up to Khan & unload without any fear of anything coming back.

by Boxtthis Sun 16 Jun 2013, 12:21 pm

All Time Great wrote:Khan has a decent chin, regardless of what people think. That shot he took against Maidana was murderous and he still stayed on his feet. Against Garcia as well, he rose to his feet and potentially was stopped by the ref prematurely.

His real problem is he has a terrible inside defence, is wide open to the left hook when he jumps in with combinations and trades when unnecessary.

Agree with this. He's taken decent shots in the past and kept going, but, in general, he just has a terrible survival instinct, which is born out of a lack of close up defensive skills. When he's hurt, he doesn't have the abilities to roll with punches, or to slip them, or even to tie his man up properly so that he doesn't keep getting tagged. So, instead, he does a number of other unhelpful things a) Having to use his feet to get himself out of trouble, doing a lot of circling and tiring himself out, or occasionally retreating in a straight line and leaving himself open for a long range looping punch, b) Just trying to fight fire with fire, which isn't helpful when you're hurt, c) Trying to hold on by pushing down on the head/neck - which is borderline illegal - and in the process eating uppercuts (like in the Maidana fight).

One thing I will say about his chin is that he seems to lose equilibrium quite severely sometimes - which exacerbates his problems when using his legs to get himself out of trouble.

by Cast a Shadow Sun 16 Jun 2013, 1:40 pm

Good post Boxthis - would not disagree with anything you said there.

The most puzzling thing with Khan is that he seems to have developed very little as a fighter throughout his career. Is he any harder to nail than he was back in the days of the Limond and Gomez fights?

His defence seems to revolve around running like hell when under pressure, and on the inside there's basically nothing. Far too much encouragement there for an opponent capable of closing the distance or dragging Khan into a fight on the inside, and just can't see him being anything more than a win some/lose some fighter at alphabet title level (forget P4P/elite which is a bridge too far).

Best win was Kotelnik by quite a distance - measured and controlled performance with a well-executed gameplan.

by TRUSSMAN66 Sun 16 Jun 2013, 2:20 pm

Perversely you could argue that Prescott was his best fight............because he realised his limitations had to do something about them and has had a good career as a result....Some fighters never realise their potential..

Lewis-Mccall was a wake up call for Lennox and he never looked back..

by eddyfightfan Sun 16 Jun 2013, 7:59 pm

i hope him and hunter gel, as style wise i don't think any other trainer would help him more. one thing he seems to stopped doing as often is throwing hard to the body, when he hit maidana early with that body shot, it was only maidanas toughness that beat the count, most fighters would have not made it.

as i hope the rumors about khan vs alexander are true, as i think its a winnable fight for khan that could be just what he needs to regain his confidences.

by YDKSAB Sun 16 Jun 2013, 9:33 pm

eddyfightfan wrote:i hope him and hunter gel, as style wise i don't think any other trainer would help him more. one thing he seems to stopped doing as often is throwing hard to the body, when he hit maidana early with that body shot, it was only maidanas toughness that beat the count, most fighters would have not made it.

as i hope the rumors about khan vs alexander are true, as i think its a winnable fight for khan that could be just what he needs to regain his confidences.

Bro you said Khan was UNDERDOG against Paulie. LMFAO laughing

by AlexHuckerby Sun 16 Jun 2013, 10:40 pm

Alexander doesn't hit particularly hard, he had that one big shot against Urango and that was about it. Alexander is a mover and a boxer, generally speaking Amir does his best work against those type of fighters. Would fancy Amir for it.

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