Amir Khan didn't need fixing! Should have stayed with Roach.

Will read properly in a bit, but, just going off the thread title and the first few lines, I have to quickly say:

• He did/does need fixing
• He needs time to adopt the new style
• The new style is the right style
• The new style is designed to eliminate the problems he was creating for himself in the Maidana and Peterson fights - wasting energy and burning out.
• The new is designed to help him evolve into a thinking fighter - something absolutely necessary for when his speed and legs diminish in the next couple of years.
• Whether he succeeds in doing the above, is another question all together. But what's certain, is that he could no longer continue fighting the way he was under Roach. Roach himself acknowledged this and tried to get him to become a more patient, settle-down, fighter.

 

Khan is shot. Not hating on Khan and talking ****. This is my genuine opinion.

 

After the Garcia loss I agreed that it was probably wise to leave Freddie and try something different with a new coach. However, after watching his last two fights I've seen that Khan just can't change his style, he is what he is. Virgil Hunter will not make any signifcant improvements to him. If anything, he'll make him worse by getting him caught in between styles.

I'm not Roach's biggest fan, always felt he's overrated as a coach but I've seen now that he's likely the only one who can get the best out of Khan. His offensive-first style suits Amir perfectly despite all the weaknesses it brings.

I'd have liked to have seen Oliver Harrison given more of a chance as coach but it's highly unlikely Khan would ever go back to him now, he loves the US and the glitzy life too much. Roach probably wouldn't have him back now either if Amir ever asked him, he was very upset with the comments Khan made about his parkinsons.

 

Couldn't agree more

 

Seeing as though his habits are ingrained in him, I fear that may be the case. But still, he has to try. Otherwise he'll go back to his old style and not improve.

I agree, Roach done a tremendous job with him and created a style which perfectly contributed to his attributes/intelligence. But it had its drawbacks, too. Once it hit its ceiling, there was no room for it to improve. In fact, it was just accelerating his decline. Khan's not got the physical toughness of a Manny Pacquiao to last as long. Hunter, in my opinion, is fine-tuning the engine a bit to ensure it doesn't explode. Khan may well look less dynamic at the moment (although I think his worsening chin played a part in that), but he needs to give this change a chance.

 

why pay Roach to get trained by a Filipino midget?

I think Khan has plateaued under Roach and now he is physically not in the best condition. I think Khan needs Ariza more than Roach IMO

 

I felt that Khan had Plateaued under Roach, but I agree that there wasn't a lot to fix. All he needed were a few tweaks. A bit less predictability, better footwork, learning how to tie up so he doesn't have to resort to pushing and keeping his right hand up so he doesn't get caught with the left hook. The other thing he needed to change was a mental thing-i.e. when hurt just survive, don't try to go toe to toe. Sounds like a lot of faults but really they're just tweaks. Not a complete overhaul of style. Is it wise to change something that's been ingrained in him since he was a kid?

These days there is so much focus on Khan's defence and people are forgetting his biggest problem-his chin! Every single time he gets caught it's "oh he's learnt nothing. He's flawed. His defence is ****". Here's the thing. Mayweather is a defensive genius and he was caught by Guerrero. He was caught by Mosley, he was caught by Marquez. Every time he fights he takes clean punches. "can't swim without getting wet" is how the old saying goes. When Mayweather takes a shot? No one cares 'cause his chin is good. When Brandon Rios gets hit? No one says a word 'cause his chin is made of granite. When Khan gets hit? "If that was a harder puncher he would've got knocked out." Yeah, because he has a chin that's below average! Do you expect him to never take a shot? People need to be realistic here. What the **** do they expect? Even if he did become a defensive genius (which he won't) he would still have to take shots once in a while and he would still have a good chance of getting knocked spark out 'cause of his chin. His defence and approach are flawed, I'm not denying that, but they're nowhere near as bad as people make out. It's his chin that's the biggest problem. He can change styles, improve technically, and do whatever he wants, but if he gets hit clean, there's always a chance he gets hurt. He doesn't have the physical advantages of Wladimir Klitschko to protect himself from getting his weakness tested.

It's a myth that he was reckless and gung ho against Garcia. Yeah, after the knockdown he was, but until that point he was boxing. He just made one mistake and paid the price. Some can get away with it, some can't, and for me it's that simple. Easy to over analyse things.

Should he have left Roach? I'm not sure. Like I said, I don't believe he needed a change of style, just a few tweaks. Roach was fine as a trainer. However, if Roach is busy with other fighters and Khan is being trained by some Filipino while he's away then that's no good. Roach is getting older, his parkinsons does seem to be getting worse sadly and maybe it was time for a change.

Finally, sometimes a fighter has to take responsibility also, and there are some things a trainer can't change. One camp he's with Ariza, then he's stopped working with him, then he's back with Ariza, then he's with someone else. Total, ****ing shambles. Ariza was working so why **** it up? He has a war in sparring, gets told to box by Tabares and says "it's boring". The guy seems to be surrounded by complete ****tards such as that twat Saj. Only training during camps and not in between camps? Like someone said, it's like Khan trains just for the fight and not his own development. It seems to me like he needs a reality check instead of clowns blowing smoke up his ass. We'll see what happens. It's been a roller-coaster career already.

 

I concur.

 

Someone put a letter into BN this week about Hunter being outside the ring when giving him advice. I have to agree i thought it was a really poor idea from Hunter. To many like Paul Smith they perceived it as being humble where as i felt it was the opposite.

My views on Khan as a fighter have been done to death all i will say at this point is he's been great fun to watch but i think the rollercoaster at world level is in it's last 18 months.

 

I really don't think he's got that long left to be honest. I'd like to be wrong, but I just think all those ridiculously tough fights right from his early days are going to catch up with him very very soon. I can't help but feel the next time he's in with a world level fighter he's getting stopped.

 

Yeah maybe 18 months is pushing it but i have a feeling he will try one more time then jack it in.

I think Brook would beat him and it would be rather humiliating loss for Khan. He'd be better losing to people he's got no real rivalry with..