Amir Khan - Time to write off the Prescott loss!!

Been impressed with the kid lately.....I must admit I rated mcloskey... who is a cagey southpaw and Khan basically owned him. Until he got careless against Maidana he outboxed that respected guy too.

Khan has improved ten fold since joining Roach and with his great advantages height, reach, good power and decent jab I'd give him a shot at anyone including a rusty Floyd or a one dimensional Manny...

The one worry is the kid is accident prone and tends like Holyfield to chuck the gameplan out when he's socked...

Me I'd pick khan to beat Bradley and Alexander and am willing to say I was wrong about him in the past.....

Willing also to put the prescott defeat down to an over enthusiastic naive kid getting caught....Certainly beat Breidis now without any trouble..lucky punch aside!! and see no point in fighting him again!!

The kid has all the attributes to be a great fighter and is knocking on the door now for top 10 p4p status...

Mcloskey fight was impressive and chin apart he has everything....

Time to write off the the Prescott loss.

I think he needs composure and the ability to control a fight. So far he's only done that when someone is happy to box at range with limited head movement and eat his jab. Bit amateurish defensively especially in close and against the straight right. Not totally sold, has a lot of talent but still a lot to prove.

Thing is scotty he has the speed, height and capacity like a Hearns or a Holmes to make a guy eat his jab all night..

Sometimes that's enough...and it might be in this guy's case..

Some fighters have such physical advantages a plan b isn't necessary.

With Scott on this one am still not totally dold. Agree he has some attributes which are a genuine asset such as his speed and reach but for me there are still plenty of occasions in fights when he fails to utilise these attributes and he still looks woefully befuddled when someone is able to get in close and tag him.

Has always had heart but this alone is not enough. If his chin is weak, which lets face facts it is, he really needs to learn to tie people up more effectively in close and minimise the risk as just muddling through and gutting it out as he did when tagged against Maidana is not going to be enough against a guy less crude than Marcos as he will surely face soon.

Has definitely improved but he still leaves me with my heart in my mouth and for me looks very much like an accident waiting to happen.

He didn't make Maidana or McCloskey eat the jab all night, and I'm not sure he would against anyone who doesn't provide a static target. Mayweather is certainly cleverer than a jab being enough by itself and I would think Pacquiao could get round or through it and then there are still worries about his punch resistance. They both have similar speed to him so that's one of his main advantages out of the window. It's not a stinging jab either, just a quick and solid one.

Khan seems to be heading in the right direction and clearly has genuine ambition. I agree with Truss that he deserves a pass for one shocking loss. Choynski ( a lightheavy, ) flattened a young Jack Johnson with one punch, and Jim Flynn did the same to Dempsey on the way up. Didn't do either of them any harm in the long term, and probably did them good at the time.

mcloskey was less crude than Marcos......

Didn't watch the Mc fight Truss so can't really comment but still maintain he is flawed. If he is going to rely as you probably rightly suggest on the jab and movement I would have to agree with Scott that he needs to develop the jab into a really venomous offensive weapon which it isn't really now. It is far from pitty pat but is not for me strong enough at the minute to be the centre of his gameplan or offensive arsenal

Look I'm not suggesting he's the perfect fighter.....suggesting what he has got going for him is alot more than anybody else...

Re Holyfield when he got hit he used to slug.....All fighters have weaknesses but this kid has the capacity to beat anyone and I think It's time to move on from Prescott and make it irrelevant..

He was has all the attributes to become great, but id love to see him become more adaptable, id hate him to become a one dimensional fighter.

I agree that he has the tools to be one of the finest fighters in the world for a good few years ahead, but he still has work to do and, right now, I think he's a walking knockout waiting to happen again if his defence doesn't improve.

His power isn't all that devastating at 140 lb, and so he relies on throwing quick flurries of punches, some of them pitter-patter and some of them a bit more hurtful. Problem is, he leaves himself so wide open when he throws them it's untrue. He's faced one puncher in five fights since moving up to Light-Welterweight, and while he showed great heart and, at times, superb skill to win that fight, once again it did show that he's still very much vulnerable to the big bangers. He was perilously close to being stopped in that tenth round, and if he gets himself in to that situation once more against someone more calculated and a better short puncher than Maidana, it spells massive trouble.

Against someone who can punch, is genuinely fast and has a relentless work rate, I think Khan is likely to wilt. He has the tools as I say, but needs to adopt a bit more ring savvy and, for me, sit down on his punches a bit more before he's the finished article.

Think that is the key conundrum facing Khan Chris, agree he needs to sit down on his punches more if he is going to turn his jab into a truly devastating, fight changing weapon however the more he sits down on his punches the more he has to stay in range and sacrifice a little mobility which obviously carries its own risks

The problem I believe with Khan is that I dont think he has confidence in his chin. The prescott fight has put a question mark in his head. Regardless of what he says, the way he fights suggests to me he lacks confdence and thus fights scared. He doesn't sit down on his punches for the reasons mentioned above.

He reminds me of Hearns. Both vulnerable in the chin department. The difference being that Hearns always had the self belief that he could take you out before you took him out. Khan doesn't have that belief in himself.

rowley wrote:Think that is the key conundrum facing Khan Chris, agree he needs to sit down on his punches more if he is going to turn his jab into a truly devastating, fight changing weapon however the more he sits down on his punches the more he has to stay in range and sacrifice a little mobility which obviously carries its own risks

Very true, not an easy thing to do. Would be a lot easier for him if he shortened his punches when in close, mind you; he wings them in from all angles and distances when he throws a flurry, and that, rather than his jab lacking any real power, is my primary concern for him. His jab, jab, move, flurry routine is working OK for now, but I do find myself questioning whether or not people are on the wind up when they talk of him taking on a Mayweather or Pacquiao RIGHT NOW with that skill set. Time's on his side though, of course.

Khan needs to improve his inside fighting massively - he still fights like an amateur when someone closes the distance. He doesnt know what to do unless he is at range.

Maidana showed the holes he has in his defence as well. He may have his ear muffs on but will always be wide open to a uppercut straight through the middle.

I suppose this non-perfect style makes his fights interesting and as jeff says - it looks like an accident waiting to happen - lets just hope it doesnt happen! But that makes me more interested in his fights if you know what I mean.

Need to improve his defense a lot, especially guarding against uppercuts.

Tend to agree that the Prescott loss is now history. He has done enough to put it behind him and should be looking forward to some big fights. Godd luck to him

Many great fighters lost early in their career; so certainly can't hold it against him.

samevans1 wrote:Many great fighters lost early in their career; so certainly can't hold it against him.

It's not so much holding it against him or saying his record is poor because of it. It's whether it showed a weakness that could reoccur which to a certain extent it did. But, it's something the Maidana fight dispelled, to a degree.