Amir Khan vs. Carlos Molina RBR

Khan looked great. He wasn't throwing at will everytime. Like the ring generalship he

displayed patience and composure!

 

Yup, when Khan goes to the body with those sharp, fast hooks he really hurts his opponents.

 

Khan could beat PEDersen just by boxing and not getting bullied to the ropes. Khan actually fought well off the ropes tonight, but he doesn't need to allow himself to get bullied there. I would not be opposed to having Khan take on Lamont next.

 

Top 5 at 140:
Marquez
Rios
Mattheysse
Garcia
The USSR Boys

Top 5 at 147:
Mayweather
Pacquiao
Bradley
Alexander
Guerreo

Where does he get his belt from?

 

paulie you simpletonatsch

 

Cano was robbed bad against Paulie. Crazy how an old Morales gave him a beating though.

 

Cano was robbed co-sign.

 

:deal That he was. He was also out of shape and still gave Paulie the business.

 

My assessment of the fight:
Referee Reiss: a little rough. looked angry. Pushed back Khan during a regular break quite aggressively. Never seen a ref push someone back as roughly as he did. He was good on inside fighting, if one hand was free, he let them go at it.

Commentators: I thought I'd never say this, but HBOs commentators are Gods compared to these guys, especially Bernstein. Man needs to STFU. Malignaggi is awesome but didn't say much this fight.

Khan:
+
works his jab for once. Double and triple it up. Destroys momentum, breaks concentration, and breaks down opponent slowly. Pushed off back leg. Pushed his jab up, with his 'boxing' style and long reach from an abysmal mid 20s to the 40% range. Huge improvment.
good inside work when put against the rope
good right guard- he seemed to know when to put it up both predictively (expectign the shot) and reflexively (seeing it and reflexively defending against it)
actually countering for once especially while stepping back
stuck to the strategy let the KO come instead of getting reckless
more reflexive and predictive in his approach- that is you can tell he thinks about these scenerios ahead of time. There was a few quick shots Molina threw at Khan that I think would have hit anyone but moving back, leaning on the back leg, shoulder up he effectively blocked them
judging distance and controlling opponent through his left arm
finally some inside work
Takes the punch more reflexiively and predictively. He took that Garcia punch straight ( I mean he had no reaction to it-even last minute like tiling or angling his head). To me this says that Khan instinctively has changed his defense.
"viva mexico"
-
Started dropping his guard to the end of the fight
Still getting hit by left hooks and well timed shots. the plus I saw for Khan was that Molinas hooks were a lot shorter than Garcia's.
Still uncontrolled flurries...maybe less frequent and more controlled, but left himself open plenty of times .
Needs to turn away from the left hook. I noticed the occsional revolving INTO it. His strategy of stepping out remedies this a little.
Needs to learn about his own body. He has reach and lanky arms. That means he needs some distance between his fists and his opponents. When he stunned Molina and was on the inside he just flurried away at the body, instead of steppign back and judging his distance better to rip shots to the body. Against a better opponent that sort of flurry would be open to counters
Not pushing off his back leg for later jabs. This is why you saw his front foot 'pattering against the ground'. You always move forward with your front foot
Occasioanl pushing
"I will KO Garcia..." I mean let's be real...you can't defend someone who says stupid shitt like that. Asif Vali needs to step in and do his job here. Considering he has no pre-boxing experience, he won't

Molina
+
tremendous Chin and heart. Took hard shots and kept coming forward
good overall technique, not bad in any one place
managed to protect his cut his early eye better than the majority fighters I've seen
short quick punches, good combo, great overhand and well timed hooks
not afraid to get dirty inside
timing,accuracy
Great handspeed. A little under Khan's but enough to match anyone below 140
Good 1-2 and overhand. Barely used it though, but when he did it backed Khan up
-
Poor conditioning. Could have bulked up more slowly and came in much more lean. Should take some weight off his legs, since he already quite short and put some onto his top half
He doesn't have power because he neither torques his punches or body, nor does he punch through his target.
Physically he reminds me of JCC Sr, his body is well anchored into the ground and he can use body hooks much better than a taller fighter. He just threw himself into Khan's chest though (literally) in the ropes instead of forcing him into the ropes and corners

Not enough attack
lack of bobbing and weaving when coming inside
a little too predictive in that he would back up on punches once khan started instead of seeing it as an opportunity to come in. If you are backing up, that allows Khan to re-establish his Jab
Should close the distance either bobing and weaving, cutting off the ring, or a jumping jab.
needs to let his hands go not only offensively but defensively- could have varied up the placement of his defense, especially against Khan's uppercuts. He just ate them
His corner were a bunch of assholes. Asking him to quit since the third round. Should have given him more pertinent information like closing the distance and the ring.

Too lazy to write an overall write up of both fighters.

What I want to know is do you think Khan setup his array of shots using the jab well?
I'm also curious as to whether GB will get Molina a good contender/title shot. What was promised, anyone know?