Changing trainers at this point of career:I said it before on here. The stupid decision to sack Oliver Harrison at this point in his career caused this problem. I remember his last fight he was getting hit frequently by jabs (usually a sign of a shot fighter) but he's so young that can't be the case can it? Bringing in this South American trainer, rather than build on his list of victories and focus on developing weaknesses, resulted in him going back to square one and learn a new way of boxing completely. So instead of being a fighter with 14 or however many victories he had, he became more like a brand new fighter with no victories. A foolish experiment. Harrison may not have been the best trainer but instead of replace him, he should have been kept and supplemented with other trainers to work on the areas that Harrison wasn't the expert in. Modern Luxury loses to traditional grit: I saw the pre-fight build ups talking about Khan's body fat being 3% or something ridiculous like that. I don't know how correct all that modern day training stuff is but I believe its more hype than the reality shows. Khan trained in state of the art premises with modern techniques etc, in contrast to Prescott who trained in a rundown gym in Columbia with a tiny room upstairs for sleeping and absolutely no luxuries. He said "this builds in me an anger to want to get out and I train harder" or something to that effect. It also reminds me of the olympics with all the world's sprinters using the same pre-race techniques and preparation including mental visualisation etc. In the end Usain Bolt just came along, kept it real and dusted them. Taking the opponent lightly: The people who boost his head saying he's the best, he can beat Hatton etc. It must go to his head. How could Frank Warren and Khan not have watched clips of Prescott (unacceptable in professional boxing)? Good preparation means you don't take ANY opponent lightly. You watch tapes and learn the opponents habits. I don't remember the boxer I watched in an interview who said opposing boxers don't actually hate each other, in fact their relationship is probably more like love because they spend the weeks before the fight thinking of nothing else but their opponent. You eat sleep and dream about your opponent if you want to be a winner. He is pure hype: While some people say this, I don't think that is true. It is obvious he is super talented and is definitely capable of achieving more. This was an off night for a number of reasons including the ones listed. The goal of becoming the youngest world champion was worth aiming for, at least now he can regroup and progress at a more suitable pace. I think the choice of trainer is probably the primary factor out of the above. But how do you train a fighter to take hard punches? Moving forward: How to solve the trainer issue is a major factor. No matter what he does from this point he is starting from round 1 or ground zero (whatever you want to call it) all over again. Thanks and let me know your thoughts. I'd like constructive, balanced discussion on these points from those of you who understand boxing please, thanks.
I think you are over anaylzing the fight. I agree with your point about modern scientific training excercises and all that bull**** - who cares what % body fat you got - whats that got to do with smashing someones face in. Bottom line is - Khan was caught cold. Ok he got a glass chin and would have probaly been knocked out at some point - this Prescott could be the real deal. However I dont think his trainer change or anything like that had a bearing on the fight. It was one of them fights it was over so quick - it actually dont tell you much about either fighter. Someone got nailed and taken out early. It happens.
Those points might be valid, but if they were all addressed the outcome would have been exactly the same. With all the will in the world if you don't have any punch resistance you're going to get knocked out. If Khan fought Prescott 100 times, he would get stopped 100 times. If Khan wants to start from scratch and reinvent himself, good luck to him, but his career won't pan out any different second time round. He should call it a day right now, whilst he is still young and healthy enough to do something else with his life.
AND OF COURSE WHILE HE HAS STILL GOT HIS HANDSOME GOOD LOOKS. ANY MORE BEATINGS LIKE THAT AND HE MIGHT HAVE A FACE AS BASHED AND UGLY AS JONATHAN THAXTON. KHAN SHOULD QUIT BOXING - AND TRY HIS LUCK AS A MALE MODEL FOR ADIDAS FULL TIME.
Flint, outside of the Enzo threads you make some very grounded, solid points. I think Amir has his life too cushy. Pissing about with his young mates driving around Bolton. Money in the bank. Being told he is all this and that. If he was serious he'd have gone to the States early doors, knuckled down and got some good sparring, found out what it's like to fight real top guys. All that said, with that chin, I dunno how far he could've got anyway.
Not caught cold, he has almost no punch resistance. Prescott could be a beast if he has a solid chin.