Amir Khan's performance against Julio Diaz: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Very good points.. i share the same view..

Changing a fighters style takes time, the balance of attack and defence still needs work, Khan cutting down on workrate allowed Diaz to get off and come on to him, old Khan would of tried finishing off Diaz in 6 rounds.

Hunter still has alot of work on his hands but i can see what he trying to do..

 

So, basically, you guys think Khan, whilst trying to box smart, is compromising some of his best qualities? Interesting. I'll copy and paste what I wrote in another thread:

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With regards to him looking slower, that may be true seeing as though he's declining physically already. But perhaps the reason why he didn't look as quick was because he chose not to step up the gears? The early rounds looked as though Diaz was giving him the opportunity to box at his own pace, and so Khan chose to keep the tempo low. As some of you have noted, he had Diaz stunned on a few occasions but held back. I really think this is Virgil's influence (something I like), and it was a sign of Khan trying to hold back and not be wasteful of punches/energy.

I'll need to review the second half of the fight to see what went wrong there, but early on, I thought he was doing ok. I reckon we should allow him more time to work on this new style before we **** on him. He's in a transition period and, to his credit, he is trying to improve.

On a negative note:

• Punch resistance has dropped to a seriously bad level. His time at the top is possibly over for good. No coming back from this?
• Still too vulnerable to the left-hooks. I notice him block a couple, but too many went through.
• His hands dropping low in the second half. Facepalm moment for me there.

But great thread, Bogotazo. Some great replies here. :good

 

I think it can be a positive experience as long as they take it back in to the gym and not let the knockdown/being hurt again demoralise him. I was actually impressed by Khan aside from his punch resistance. Was calm, coped under pressure, and he intigrated some of Hunters teachings in to the bout. It's so easy to work on everything in the gym and then you get hit in the bout and revert to type. Example, Khan got hurt late and his first reaction was to tap his gloves together in a 'macho' Pacquiao-esque style as if he was wanting to trade, but then clicked on to what was happening and held on. A couple of bouts back he would have let his hands go and got caught big again.

Just little improvements, but improvements that can make a difference.

Hunter didn't seem to be able to see much from what I heard in the corner, all of the action (knockdown, etc) seemed to be just out of his sight due to the angles or something. He was asking Khan questions as if the action took place in a way that he couldn't see much. Although this could have just been a technique to regain Khan's focus.

 

The guy is always one punch away from being KO'ed.:deal

 

I agree that Khan did look a little shaky at times, was it the 11th that felt a bit like the Maidada 10th?

What I will say is: Khan was absolutely fine after the KD, he got straight back up and his legs were with him. He recovered well from whatever hurt he was feeling but to be honest I think it was half a balance issue.

Apart from that he managed to stay on his feet. People were commending Bradley's chin the other week when he was constantly wobbling all over the ring for pretty much every round. With Khan though apparently it's time to retire for getting hurt.. twice? Was it more?

It's worth remembering he was fighting a guy with a decent KO record who KNEW he could not outpoint Khan, it was obvious from the way he was fighting (and pretty much all his interviews) that he was going for the big shots that would end the fight. I think the "worst chin in boxing" did alright to stay on his feet whilst regularly outpointing Diaz.

Personally I don't understand how it is possible for Khan to be useless hypejob with the worst chin in the sport whilst only getting 'KTFO' on 1 occasion in 31 fights. He is clearly doing something right and the lack of respect on this board bemuses me.

There is definitely a fragility about Amir at the moment, perhaps more so than usual but with his extremely impressive past I'm not writing him off yet. He has the abilty to absolutely blow Peterson or Garcia away. With Amir it's never a certainty, but that's part of the fun.

 

I found Diaz's comments in the post fight press conference interesting:

'I saw him make a lot of changes every round. When the bell rang, I felt like okay, I got him already...and then he would come out every round different. (...) it was a very busy fight, mentally for me.'

And also:

'There were rounds where he came to attack, there were rounds where he boxed, and then he came out running away, he used angles (...) it's possible he could clear up his mistakes, he needs to stop exposing himself.'

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1OThqCgn4s )

I don't think I've ever heard any Khan opponent say that sort of stuff. Normally Khan is very predictable, and just fights in the same way. I've only seen the fight once, but I can't really remember Khan changing his approach up that much...maybe I'll look at it again to see what Diaz was talking about.

Either way, it was a poor performance from Khan. The only thing I liked was two points that Bogo touched on -- the better choices after he gets hurt and his use of the lead arm to keep people away. He also looked very close to getting knocked down for a second time in one of the late rounds -- he was all over the place, but managed to recover.

 

Unfortunate that he now has Ramadan and his wedding to stop, or at least hinder, any adaptation to this new style before December.

 

I liked some of his hooks, though. They were pretty decent.

 

Yes, I'm sure Virgil himself would agree. From the very first day he took on Khan, he mentioned that he wanted to turn Khan into the type of fighter that would make his opponents pay if they wanted to get on the inside. And in the Brit forum, I mentioned one of the problems he created for himself on Saturday night was him offering nothing in return to deter Diaz from chasing him down. I got two very good responses from this point:

pathmanc1986: "Thats a key point, Khan seems to be only able to operate in full attack mode or full defence mode - theres no blend. He needs to develop a fending jab, instead of a straight jab.

Hunter is trying to get him to spot distance from the front foot always, and work entirely around the anchor of the pivot on it. Khan can fight at mid range and discourage men from walking him down by standing his ground at mid range and constantly pivoting, instead of getting off a combo then moving straight back and going backwards. Hunter was pleading with him to stand his ground because anytime he did, Diaz kept honest and stayed in that range with Khan, and had little success.

Interesting to see what the next move is regarding an opponent - I sensed Hunter feels its still very much a work in progress before a world title tilt"

icemax: "Absolutely spot on....When Khan had his front foot nailed to the centre of the ring he looked a million dollars and pretty solid. Its when he goes walkabout with his back touching the ropes that the real trouble starts and he ends up looking like a novice"

 

Yes I remember that. After the knockdown, he was asking Khan what happened... "What was it? Was it the feet? Did you slip?" (paraphrasing) Khan shrugs and indicates he's ok, to which Virgil tells him not to worry and keep boxing - which he did.

 

:deal

 

He looked worse IMO. The thing with his new style is, it encourages opponents to keep coming as he's not planting his feet with his punches and he's throwing far fewer. At least when he was with Roach the opponents had to worry about his offense, now they worry about nothing.

Also I dont know why he drops his right hand all the time, I just dont get why they dont glue it to his face. Same way Nishioka pretty much glued it to his face vs Donaire. Everytime he jabs, it drops, and when he gets caught its like he goes into a different world.

Not sure what Virgil can do, other than teach him to troll with punches better.

 

One other bad habit he did this fight (which he has done in the past) I noticed at least 5-6 times when he got tagged, he would bang his fists together like he was about to get into a slug fest (which he did do at least on of those times and almost got knocked down for it), he is losing his cool and really needs to stay calm and focused or else he becomes even easier to tag.

Also if he is easily ahead on points he needs to let his pride go and take a damn knee when he is dazed, walking around half dazed/half defenseless while someone is landing bombs on him is gonna cost him big time and as much as he pisses me off, I don't wanna see a young fighter round my age completely ruin himself.

Khan is becoming his own worse enemy, he wants to be exciting, deny his own shortcomings and fight opponents that he clearly is not ready for, a rematch with Garcia now I just don't know, get this feeling something bad is gonna happen.

Oh and one more question before I end my rant, does Diaz punch harder than Peterson?