Freddie Roach needs to be careful........

Freddie Roach needs to be careful that he doesn't undue all the good work he's done with Amir Khan by allowing him emulate a style that could be detrimental to his overall effectiveness, IE, copying Manny Pacquiao.

Slowly but surely I can see more and more signs that he's trying to emulate Pacquiao's style, only it seems it might be having a detrimental effect imo. I believe this messed up Khan's footwork and caused him to get hit more.

Thoughts?

 

The biggest problem I can see, is that they are trying to get him to set his feet when he counters, only I believe that can leave you in the same spot for too long, more in danger of catching the receipt from the opponent. Notice how Pacquiao likes to stop to counter? I believe he does this cause he wants to set his feet before countering, so when he does counter, he gets full purchase(power) on the shot. I think we saw signs against Maidana, that cause Roach wants him to sit down on his punches more, that Khan is hanging around longer cause he's got to set his feet to get the power into those shots, where as before he could put less on them, flurry, and get away quicker because he wasn't always looking to land hard.

 

I guess you could say that, but dont you have to equate that to the fact that early on, Maidana wasn't really pressing him that hard, where as once he smelled blood, he was all over him like a rash, that Khan was also fresh then ?

I mean if you have problems with footwork, I believe you can get away with it somewhat if you're not pressed that hard, but its when your under intense pressure that I believe it shows up big time, see the latter part of the Kotelnik fight? Khan was doing as much running in the latter part of that fight, as he was this. I just contradicted myself a little there, but here's the thing, I thought Khan had footwork issues before the Maidana fight, only now that he's planting his feet more, staying in range slightly longer to land hard, its becoming more apparent.

I mean lets be honest, Maidana did'nt do a good job of cutting the ring down really, he just exploited the fact that when applied intense pressure, that Khan kept backing himself into bad positions, getting trapped.

 

You know that's what I have my reservations about, the way Khan is fighting at the moment, I can see it becoming a hinderance to him going foward, that he could conceivably end up taking a step backward after originally progressing under Roach, now if it was just part of a strategy for this particular fight, and he want be doing it in his next fight, maybe it wont be such an issue, do wonder though.........:think

 

That's what I believe, although I do believe the way Roach is getting him to to sit down on the counters, is effecting the way he fights. I believe Roach wanted to KO Maidana, that he believed Khan would end it within 5/6 rounds, so maybe he made him sit down more, dont know, definitely worth keeping an eye though imo.

Yeah, I dont think he can create the angles to use those tight little turns, he's too square on, which is why when he moves laterally, he almost side steps quickly, which is why opponents find it easier to catch up to him imo, especially when he's trying to sit down on a punch then get away quickly.

Agree, if you're head is always in the same place, the opponent is going to know where to find you. Khan is too rigid from the waste up, he doesn't seem to get that your lower body doesn't have to by in sync with the top, which is probably why when he steps, he steps with his torso and feet together, at the same time.

I think a major problem he has, is that whilst being a good long range fighter, that he's exclusively a longe range fighter, he has no mid range game, no inside game either, he also has no arsenal of punches to protect his long range when someone tries to approach into it, so instead of shortening punches up, bringing other punches into play, like uppercuts etc, he will generally take a step back to maintain long range, but there are only so many steps back you can take before your back hits the ropes, and given his poor footwork, it does not bode well.

Khan could possibly get away with his lack of mid range/ inside game, provided he could bang like Wlad, cause he could keep the opponent firmly in their place, make them think twice about trying to close him down, only he lacks that kinda power imo, particularly at that weight.