Amir Khan Vs Zab Judah Build-Up Thread

Amir Khan LA Training Diary part 2

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_15ESaUkdNw[/ame]

 

Mother****ers show him on the pads.
:good thanks anyway

 

That's episode 5

 

Watched Zab vs Mabuza tonight.

The Lord has truly changed Zab as a man and fighter. Strange watching him work so economically. He picked his punches and tbh buzzed Mabuza a few times early on nothing major but caught his attention.

Not a easy fight because Mabuza has long swarming arms and i get impression Zab made the fight a bit harder then needed because he was being a little to Sweet Pea like. Could of let hands go a bit more but he set the trap and picked out a peach and then finished him very well.

I'd say a professional performance with a touch of class.

I think he backed up a bit to much against Mabuza respecting his power and gave a few rounds away needlessly but i was mildly impressed.

As for the fight i think the main word for both men is discipline. I think majorly on side of Khan because he will need to work a plan and work it well without falling into traps. If he loses discipline tactically he may well get stopped cos the power and snap is still there in Zab's punches.

It could be a scrappy bout if Zab sits alot because Khan has habit of overshooting and smothering and it could take a while to open up.

I'm not making a pick as of yet got to watch a bit more but both men can feel confident of victory.

 

Zab circled well in the early going against Mabuza, Kaizer couldn't catch him at all in the first 3-4 rounds when Judah was reeling to the right, always on his toes just bouncing to the side of Mabuza's swings. It works well in theory, but it's not like he's circling Pacquiao-style, he was circling really wide, which wore him down as the fight progressed.

He's lucky he retained his power as he began to fatigue, because if not he would've found himself in trouble down the stretch.

 

I think Judah will make Khan look bad early on without winning any rounds and in the end I just see a clear victory for Khan here. I really do.

 

Yep he was trying a bit to hard to be like Sweet Pea. There was positives from the display and i think there will be some more development come fight night.

Supposedly Zab's been listening to every command from Pernell which is refreshing to hear. I would of preferred his lead off a bit more in that fight but it reminded me of a guy who knew he could win but wanted to look good doing it.

I never felt Zab was worried in there he kept calm and the shot was a peach.

 

Khan's so predictable though its unreal. Even McCloskey could see those shots. Makes his speed not as devastating as it could be because its all 1-2 straight down the pipe flurrying. You're only really looking at one place when he's fighting like that. You ain't worried about anything coming from the side or hitting your body. It ain't a crime to mix it up. I hope to see a performance of less quantity more quality from Khan in this one. That would represent a good improvement.

 

I'm just glad Zab has someone who will give him some clear, concise, corner advice. Rather than all that bollocks he had in the corner before. When things began to crumble against Mayweather, he had the command of "hit dis n#gga!!!" rather than some concrete rational. Whether or not he'll be able to implement what he's told is another thing, but at least it'll be there in this first place.

 

Yeah it was very calm and well thought advice from Pernell what made it stranger was the father there watching on in there. I do miss the sound effects but i'm glad Zab's got a calm corner now.

 

Khan annoys me sometimes with his predictability. Although, seeing how shite his hooks are, you can understand why most of his shots are straights. He's got nothing on Anselmo Moreno in terms of being predictable though :yep.

Is Kaizer Mabuza a robot BTW?

 

What am I...the robot judge? :rofl

No, I'd say Khan's fairly robotic. He's a robot on speed. Okay, so we've got past the idea that Khan can not bend at the waist, he never will. He's using legs for defence. Fine. BUT, its more the punch selection that is robotic. At times he hints at better, like the left hook he picked against Maidana perfectly. But then he'll throw up a McCloskey where theres no real thought process. Most fighters we're dying for them to let their hands go and put together combinations. With Khan I'm dying to see him learn the art of punch selection and picking an opening.

 

Khan looks nervous most of the time. Just lunging in and flurrying, then jumping back out, with no real thought process, like you say. Being more selective would definetely be a benefit, he just seems too edgy anxious in the ring that he doesn't seem to think about his shots. I can't see how he's going to sort that out for the Judah fight, it's something that was evident in Khan's work against Maidana and McCloskey, but Roach doesn't seem to have adressed it.

 

I don't think Khan's improved that much since the initial improvement under Roach where they reworked his body and his mindset somewhat. I mean from that Kotelnik fight where he boxed well to a gameplan he's arguably regressed. He's hid behind his handspeed more and more. I give him a bit of a pass for Maidana since Marcos is a good fighter and a handful stylistically, but I wasn't overwhelmed by his performance against Paulie and the less said about McCloskey the better.

Handspeed is supposed to be the icing on the cake. It won't save you at the next level, the top, top names are not falling for that routine, the names he's talking about won't fall for it.

 

Spot on he's nervous. Watch the ring walks he never looks calm he looks nervous which for some fighters is great it makes them that bit sharper. With Khan it's detremental because although his speed early on is brilliant he makes silly mistakes and doesn't think.

Like the start of the Maidana fight that's not how the fight should of started if i'm thinking from Roach's POV. Jim Watt didn't think so either by the sound effects . He then picks out a gem of a shot once he settles but he's never gotten out of this amateur mindset.

I do wonder how Zab will approach this fight. I would prefer him to fight more centre ring this time rather then backing up constantly.

He's got to exploit what the Yanks call ''Happy Feet''. Khan's footwork is all over the gaff like a ****ing Thunderbird.