No one doubts the training talents of Freddy Roach he's been around the business long enough. But is he being absolutely honest with Khan and his people? Does he get enough criticism and reality checks? or is he constantly having his ego massaged by not only his handlers but maybe Roach himself? Why does it appear that Khan seems to be going backwards? He's getting solid sparring with top guys,he's getting great fight conditioning and diet. Everything a fighter needs. Why then did Khan show very poor technique last night? Is he not rectifying mistakes made in fights, back in the gym with Roach? Where does Khan think he is with regards to his development and where is he really at? Yes I am being a little hard on him, he won every round against a guy who didn't come to fight, but he didn't look great. I think he needs to get back to basics again, take a bit of speed off his punches, pick the shots better and for god sake stop lunging and rushing in with that blitz style. That's old Khan's way to win and it won't work at the higher level. Roach needs to bring him right back down to Earth, stop talk about Mayweather and the other p4p contenders and improve his game, to bring it up from where it is.
I don't think it's a case of him going backwards much. He had a lot of known problems going into this fight (split with Ariza, no SBO etc) and McCloskey was harder to hit than people thought. Still Khan managed to win every round. Khan's punch range has never been that great really and his main technique is that quick lunge forward where he slaps his hands around. I think Khan beats Bradley though and he's still got plenty of time to learn more. Right now though he's clearly way behind the likes of Marquez, Pacquiao, Martinez and Floyd Mayweather in terms of technique but let's not forget how experienced all of those are compared to Khan.
You make a good point about the outside of ring detractions and problems, but again it comes back to his handlers making bad decisions on Khan's behalf. He needs to take charge of his own destiny, forget about promoting, get Golden Boy to promote him 100% and for him to focus on boxing. It's true his lunging style seems to have become his default style. But he has a good jab as he showed in the Malignaggi fight. Surely he needs to use that more, be patient, sit down on his punches and throw with intent and place those shots. He thinks in his head, that he's box office, he's a p4p contender, he's ready for Mayweather, but reality paints him differently. Time will tell, but he needs to calm down, get a grip on things, fire his good for nothing team and leave it to the professionals. Team Khan needs big changes.
i do think he still has the same slight mistakes happening. He has his left a little low and walks back a bit straight and easy to hit. He walks away and only holds his guard tight,should step to the side,and go under and away more. He should throw a little less in combinations and put a little more power in them. although last night it was landing shots on a hard to pin down target,not throwing hard shots and missing them with a tricky target to hit. Maybe a bit more head movement would do well also.
He's never really had head movement come to think of it. Roach doesn't seem to encourage it, he's more about evasive manoeuvres, more footwork getting in and out etc. I think if he was able to add head movement with good footwork Khan could have made a better counter puncher. With his speed he would have been able to spring defense into attack to great effect, I think he does lack ring IQ, doesn't really set traps, dictate a fight with a jab, (yes he did against Malignaggi) but he was erratic and all over the place against Maidana, and similar stuff again with McCloskey. The guy is a great athlete with super fast hands, but he's not been able to develop a good clean pro style.
I would have to say that they seems to be some truth in your threads statement, looking in from the outside. I think Amir thinks a little to highly of himself at the moment, which i know you need to do has a champion. But he comes across lately has if he thinks his this explosive power puncher and it simply isn't true. He looked amateurish last night and hardly landed anything crisp or clean. How much that had to do with McCloskey, i don't know? I wouldn't turn my back on Amir, has i wouldn't on any of my countries boxers, but i feel a little reality check is in order. Or he might end up getting it checked in the ring again.
He is comiong across as the poor mans version of Joe Calzaghe. Tons of handspeed, less accuracy and power.
I'm starting to think that the Roach effect has worn off and maybe Khan has reached his plateu. Well see, but the Bradley fight might be to soon for him, maybe another tough fight before a showdown in the winter. But its hard to go against Roach and he does have confidence in Khan's ability. Another thing, regarding ''sitting down into his punches'', since moving to Roach Ive not seen Khan use the heavy bag in his training. Thats a key tool to improving power isnt it.
Yeah good point about "the Roach effect" wearing off, but like you say it is hard to criticize Freddy. The point about the heavy bag someone mentioned last night, was it you?. It is very surprising that he doesn't use one. Like you say it is so obvious he should be. The crispness of his punches definitley needs adressing, and he has to learn to sit down on them. Handspeed will not always bail him out. On last nights showing Bradley would be far too cute for him, and i think Zab Judah would be his worst nightmare. I could'nt pick him against Ortiz now either. Big improvements in attitude and technique needed. Let's hope he hasn't found his level.
Same as with Bradley's fight with Alexander. Alexander was running away from Timmy. He was comfortably winning rounds yet a lot of people came to the conclusion Khan would beat him easily after. :huh
maybe he is good when being constantly told what to do in the gym but on fight night the pressure gets to him and he just fights the way he did when first learned to box kinda on instinct(spelling)
I asked in a thread earlier "how much did McCloskey have to do with it ? I think Paul performed well defensivley and was very awkward for Amir. But Khan looked amateurish no matter how you look at it. RIP Nate Dogg. Respect.
'A lot' of people on ESB are idiots. They do U-turns after the result of every single fight, and not bother take into consideration the many factors that contribute the type of performance/result they see. Bradley didn't look spectacular, but he didn't look poor either. I didn't see anything in that fight which told me Khan would beat him.