Amir Khan

I really just don't get the hatred for Khan.

Khan is a 22 year old kid. Why would anyone expect him to be faultless? He has amazing speed and an all round excellent offense, combined with a vulnerable chin. That means uncertainty - he's good enough to outbox people at a world level but he's always one big punch away from being knocked out. Do some people just not like excitement or something?

He's been knocked out badly once, but at 22 he's already been matched with (a faded) Barrera and now is fighting a legitimate (alphabet) world champion. Don't we normally complain when someone is protected and takes forever to step up the quality of his opposition? Here we have someone, with obvious vulnerabilities, stepping up to fight high level opponents early in his career. We should be encouraging that kind of behaviour, not sneering at it.

I didn't have much time for Khan to start with, but I have to admit that all of the bile and loathing he attracts for no sensible reason at all has made me quite like him. The guy is never going to have a good chin, but so what? Neither did Tommy Hearns! He has enormous speed and an exciting style and under one of the best trainers in the world he is likely to become very good defensively (God knows, he'll have to be with his chin). He's going to win some and lose some and you should enjoy that rather than whining about it.

The Kotelnik fight makes perfect sense for both fighters. Khan gets a WBA title fight against a legitimate champion who has good skills but doesn't bang. Kotelnik gets a huge pay day for fighting a challenger who is vastly less experienced and who is vulnerable. You might think that Khan shouldn't have a shot yet, but should we really have to explain at this point that boxing is about money and that any fighter or promoter with half a functioning brain in his head will gravitate towards fights where the reward outweighs the risk? For both fighters that's the case here and that's why the fight is being made. Whether you think Khan "deserves" a fight or not, there isn't a belt holder at LW or LWW who wouldn't bite your arm off for a chance to fight him.

(I have a similar rant about David Haye, about whom some of the above also applies but I'll keep that for another thread.)

 

Well said ******! He will move to whatever weight is more comfortable for him. He's been at 135 since he was 17 yrs old at 22 its not surprising that he has considered moving up.

 

and your a jock but i guess that cant be helped either.

So he is going for a belt and possibly chasing hatton. WHAT A DICK.
Fancy chasing a belt and then going for a p4p top ten fighter.
what a wanker.