When did Amir Khan became past his prime and PAC shot?

It wasn't a dominant win and it wasn't a solid opponent.

He just isn't very good.

 

Khan has been past his best for a while now. Probably since back to back defeats down at 140.

Pac has been considered past his best since the Margo fight when he couldn't put away the human punch bag.

 

The knockouts like Khan suffered v Canelo have longer lasting effects. His punch resistance was bad before then now it will be totally non existent.

 

Khan wasn't anything special even in his prime.

 

Khan after the Garcia fight he avoided anyone and everyone and the money grab at Cinnamon don't count. Pacquaio is a little harder to tell I wanna say just after PAC vs Marquez 3 but really it's probably number 4. That knock out made him change how he fights and he was extremely timid which was uncharacteristic of him

 

Amir Khan did not protect himself in his career (minus Kell Brook) and has made very, very stupid decisions in and out of the boxing ring. You're in the most stacked WW division in a long time why fight Canelo? Then there was that time he embarrassingly followed mayweather and pac begging for a paydays... Khan also has an incredibly crappy team around him and there's always problems going on.

I think currently after Pacquiao, Khan is the most naturally gifted welterweight in the division. He just lacks focus and does not stick to the game plan. Even now hes making a terrible decision, apparently fighting Pacquiao as soon as April, desperate for that payday.

 

No way is Khan one of the most gifted welterweights. He looked bad against Algieri.

 

I said naturally gifted, he just does not stick to a game plan and use those gifts....

 

The reason people have a hard time knowing the exact time is because they both had a gradual decline (Khan is a little different, i'll get to him in a bit).

Pacquiao was last in his prime around the Margarito fight. He moved a little higher in weight to 150, but other than that he still showed blazing speed, combos, footwork and stamina. Although he did show a bit of complacency with his simple 1/2 punches at times. People claim this was due to not wanting to hurt Margaritos eye, which maybe true, but I also felt Pac was just slightly starting to not care.

Then comes the Mosley fight where you can see Pac is perhapse a bit more flat footed and more right hand focused. He always has been, and in part it was due to Mosley's style for the fight, but it became apparent that he wasn't pushing himself to simply overpower Mosley with blazing combos. Not that he couldn't, but perhapse he felt he needed to exert himself more than he used to.

Finally by the Marquez 3,4 and Bradley 1 fight Pac was still fast but just didn't look like the phenom we saw earlier. His work rate and agressiveness became more basic (jab, jab, right). Yes he showed a lot of combos and good movement against Marquez 4, but you could tell he was a little slower and was having to exert himself harder than he used. After his KO loss, he has slowly resorted to using his experience and good angles to win fights. Yes he is still pretty fast and at times throws a couple of fast combos like he used to, but its just not as often or the same as he once was.

Now for Khan its a bit different. Khan isn't entirely past his prime per say, he just wasn't ever as good as people think. Yes knockouts have an effect, so its clear he ain't physically (and mentally) what he should be....but I don't think its his biggest detractor. Khan is basically just another Broner, Linares type fighter who looks AMAZING against a certain class of opponents, but then is clearly exposed as average against different styles.

Khan beat Malignaggi, Judah, Alexander and looked sensational, but all of these guys were similar slick/pot shot type fighters who style was perfect for Khan's superior hand speed and lengthy combos to beat. Khan is simply "misleading" in his performances due to his athleticism. He never has, or was, a "great" boxer/fighter. He is simply a good boxer with amazing hand speed that makes him look great, but really he ain't.

The Peterson, Garcia, Diaz, Algieri, and Canelo fights have constantly shown this. Heck Khan was never really "outboxing" a lot of these guys, he just looked flashy but they had his number long before they knocked him out. Garcia was already landing more and more left hooks at will as Khan kept attacking. Yes Khan was landing more, but you could tell Garcia had already figured out Khan was only a matter of time before he landed that haymaker left hook. Same with Canelo, Canelo already had Khan beat in round 4. By then he had figured Khan out and was landing hard body shots at will, and Khan had zero answer for it as well.

So yes the KOs will have an effect on Khan, but he is still somewhat. So he is only "semi past his prime", the other issue is that he never was as good as people say.

 

To me PAC is semi-shot. He hasn't had the kind of outing yet where he gets his ass kicked and we all say, Jesus, he's shot. But he's had a slow decline since Margarito, and he's looked slow as hell to me since Rios.

He still might be the best welter out there right now though.

 

"When did Khan become past his prime?" Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia fights happened. Back to back. So, what, 2012 then when Khan officially never fought to the same kind of class or result against his opposition.

"When did Pac become shot?" Funny. The legend is one of those guys that still isn't "shot" by any standards other than the high ones that he has set. He wouldn't be "shot" and so soundly have beaten Bradley and Vargas the way he did again last year. But his best wins and greatest moments seemed to have all happened 2009 and earlier. After the Cotto fight he was still dominant but clearly not the same.

 

Please name theses natural gifts

 

Khan was brutally knocked out, it was savage KO and those are the sort of knockouts some fighters never recover from.

You have to remember Khan is walking in to this fight coming off that KO loss and has said himself (when talking about a potential Brook fight) that he would want a tune up to get that defeat out of his system.

And Pacquaio has had a very long tough career and it looks like he has his head and heart in politics now.

Also, When was Pacquaios last stoppage victory?


These two are nowhere near their best, nowhere close.