If Khan V Pacquiao Did Happen

Based on Bradley being a completer fighter and having a special mentality, based on Amir's frailties and Timmy being a nightmere style for him (the fact that he would up jab with Khan and is very good on the inside, with there being no disparity in speed and athleticism).

On the weight, i just think Amir will really struggle to make it and be effective and he won't be the only one btw.

There's a difference between a walking around weight and your best weight fighting. Some fighters may have a big walking weight, but then a small fighting weight, in which they're most effective (if that makes sense).

It's all to do with body composition and structure. Hatton would balloon up in his 'walking around' weight, but would make 140 comfortabily to be effective due to his makeup, build and structure. Bradley for example would never be as effective at 147, even if he has a bigger walking around weight than some welters.

 

My recollection is Khan circling around the ring throwing pitter patters, don't try and tell me he put anything serious on any of those shots. It was robotic display using pure hand and footspeed advantage, there was no inspiration offensively and little variety. And no, I'm not watching it again it was quite boring.

Malignaggi is ****. He was **** against Ndougjo and should have lost that fight, **** against N'dou, never competetive against Hatton or Cotto, he's just not a good fighter and furthermore he's one handed.

I'm not really bothered how hard he hits in relation to Bradley because he's never going to stop him. He might stop Maidana but he won't stop Tim. He doesn't hit hard enough and he doesn't have enough variety. He never throws a bodyshot or a left-hook so a canny guy like Tim is going to be fully aware to look for the right hand.

 

You seriously think Khan has any serious variety? Seriously? He jabs and throws a right hand, repeat ad nauseum. Which is not a bad tactic considering how fast he is, but he has absolutely no variety. He threw a couple of good uppercuts against Malignaggi but I'm wondering if even that was because he was totally featherfisted and no threat, it was still underused. The left-hook is about as much in his armoury as it is Kessler's and he hardly ever works the body at all, the odd token gesture but he doesn't make a serious point of trying to do so.

And the reason for why he never seriously opens up offensively is he wants to throw a 1-2 and then glue his hands back to his chin.

I don't have any problems with it, it works, just stating facts here and it could be costly in the future.

 

even if Khan couldn't make 140 there is no doubt that Bradley will also move up.

 

You need to expand your understanding of the sport instead of looking at one bout and determining you're opinion. You look at recent form, not single events.

It would be like saying Wigan are a greater football team than Arsenal because they struggled against Blackpool one weekend

 

Yes, thats all very well, but against serious well-rounded fighters that recognize where his strengths lie you might want to have a little more to worry him than the same two punches coming from the same place. It will be costly at some point. For example, if he'd have tried to work the body of Kotelnik, he might have had more target upstairs instead of featherdusting the guys gloves all night.

You possibly didn't watch Maidana/Kotelnik because Maidana did hurt the guy in the latter rounds, I can't remember exactly which it was having watched it the once. It is possible, but you do have to find the openings they don't just appear against a guy like that and it shows what I was saying, Khan didn't really give himself the opportunity to find much target because he was 2 dimensional in his output and on his backfoot and not setting himself to do any damage.

As it is, I kinda disagree that Khan isn't limited in his skillset. I think he is extremely limited at the moment. His athletic quality is unlimited but I think his boxing skillset is fairly narrow and needs to improve over the next few years in that respect. He needs to carry on working on the defence but they need to expand his repetoire while they're doing it but also keep the defence in tune with that.

 

Absolulely. Thats the main thing i've taken from his pre-malignaggi sparring and the fight itself. He isn't that skilled of a boxer in comparison to many at world level, but it's currently made up for with athleticism and great hand speed, which is his ace card and it's going to let him at least for now be a major player at 140.

I think he beats everyone at 140 except Bradley. As for 147, he needs to avoid until he really has to

 

Punch stats are pure bull****. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you're correct about that considering the volume he threw, but punches of real quality, I don't remember too many. It was a fairly sterile fight, as you say, played very safe. It was kinda the same round 12 times.

I do think he's improving on the things I'm criticizing him for because he did throw a left-hook against Salita, and a few uppercuts against Malignaggi, but still not enough for my liking. Malignaggi was the perfect opponent to expand his range but except for a few notable uppercuts he was again jab-right hand happy and that was falling short early on which was even more reason to give Paulie different angles to worry about.

I just don't think a skillset is jab-right hand and pure athleticism. There is much more to the game. What's his plan if/when someone does get on his chest? You might say they won't or can't, but you have to prepare for every situation. Can the boy even fight on the inside? Can he find the short shots in close? Is he just going to hold and then get on his bike under pressure? I think his out fighting is about 70% complete because he has the cornerstones mastered without variety, but his ingame is a giant question mark and possibly a giant chasm.

I am being ultra-critical, but when you're talking about fighting the best in your division, and furthermore the best in the sport and all-time greats, we have to be. They are going to find giant holes, if they are there.

 

What i meant was, Bradley just has that Holyfield-esque mentality of 'you're gonna have to kill me to win'. Amir would have to fight a perfect fight and it still might not be enough.

Bradley is more rounded then Amir, he has the attributes to adapt to different styles. I've seen him fight different fights against a lot of opponents. He fought two different ways against Peterson for example.

He can fight in the booth. He can fight going backwards, he can fight from angles and use his jab like a fishing pole like in the Cherry fight. He can press the action and measure and stalk plus he has a very good chin, and workrate.

Bradley would take Khan's jab away, he can draw his lead and counter him over the top and he has the up jab, variety, footwork, movement with feints etc. to get on the inside, where he would eat Khan up. Trust me putting the earmuffs up wouldn't be enough against Timmy as he has the tools to open him up and work the body. He also has a deceptive dig, he just has a lot of advantages stylistically for me.

This one is pretty easy to dissect IMO. Even if there might be a million ancillary things. :good

 

Pitter pattering would be the worst thing to do against Maidana. Easy rounds in the bank maybe but it could haunt him late on if he does zero damage to Maidana. When he tires Maidana will be on his ass like flies around **** and he'll be in serious danger.

I'm sure Roach won't go down that **** creek. It's about fighting a sensible fight and not being open to Maidana's sneaky right hands but at the same time he does have to set himself and look for the right hand counter. I'm sure they'll fight a generic Khan gameplan to begin with but they'll be on the look out for counterpunching opportunities that Maidana will happily oblige with. This guy is as open as anyone, and can be hurt. I expect Khan to stop him myself with a counter and a flurry of handspeed to finish him.

 

Well boxers are not clay statues moulded by their trainers into whatever they want. Sometimes, especially with a fighter with such a critical weakeness as Khan, you have to take the safest route. The more dangerous a puncher, the greater these tactics will be utilised. For Khan that's jab and avoid, I really can't see Roach opting to go with anything but this

 

I agree with you on that Khan doesn't throw to the body as much as he should but that doesn't mean it's not in his arsenal. When he does throw he hurts his opponents and why fight inside when you're at ease on the outside?

 

It would be good to watch, but if GBP have their way, and the FMJ Pac Negotiations fall through for Spring... they are going to bypass the 140 unification fight and try to put Khan in with Mayweather.

 

Oh, i'm a fan of Amir and i think he'll trash Maidana. But Bradley is a different story. The biggest factor for me is the style. I really can't over-emphasize the importance of that 'up jab' that Bradley has. See Amir is a rhythem fighter and an up jab disrups that rhythem, especially if Bradley jabs with him. A good up jab cancels out the reach advantage, check Norton vs. Ali for how effective an 'up jab' can be. :good

 

There's no need for him to fight on the inside, but he's gonna come up against opponents, who have the skill to force him to fight on the inside and his total ineptitude in that department will let him down. He just doesn't know his way around the booth.

I've said for months, if you're not able to force Amir on the inside or hurt him then he's gonna be difficult to outbox. Whats gonna happen though is, he's gonna come up against an opponent like Bradley, which he doesn't have a big 'staying on the outside speed' over. His feet will be taken away and someone like Bradley has the tools to force him to fight a different fight.