I was reading a comment on here saying Khan may be the most naturally gifted fighter to ever come out of England but his flawed mindset hinders him, the only way Khan is better than any British fighter in history is in the speed department but he makes loads of mistakes and has a weak chin, so it made me think of Laing because the same stuff was said about him, Khan has much better schooling than Laing via Virgil Hunter but if he made mistakes against the really quick and powerful Laing he would be countered, so both were fast, both had weak chins and both often made mistakes defensively so aside from Hunter`s influence does Khan deserve the most natural athelete to come from England tag that used to belong to Laing or are/were they both overrated in that sense?
Khan is a one trick pony, unbelievable handspeed but it’s not like he has underachieved. Not the most talented fighter we’ve produced as far as I am concerned...
Khans weaknesses are signficant that we can conclude he achieved as much as he could achieve. Lack of defensive skills, lack of ring IQ, and a below average chin. We saw it in his rise up the ranks where was being bounced around by British level domestic fighters and journeyman, and the life and death struggle against Willie Limond. We saw it as he was matched consistently against fighters with very low KO%. He has excellent hand speed, which if used in the right game plan puts him in a world class level and he has fought much of his later career fighting world class fighters. So he should be proud of all that he has achieved. Very boxere get to fight the very best as he has done. Three of his four losses have been at the very highest level. He has only lost once against a fighter below the highest level (his first loss against the Colombian road sweeper)
In my experience very few "naturally gifted" kids make for a good career. It is those that work hard and over achieve that do well. Kirk never realised how good he was (and didn't really care) whereas khan (imo) has done well considering his lack of everything except big balls and phenomenal hand speed. In essence kirk was far more rounded i think and i could never imagine amir toking a big bifta just before a contest
