Would Amir Khan have been Floyd Mayweather’s toughest fight?

Reasons why I believe Amir Khan’s boxing style would have given Floyd Mayweather more problems than any other opponent he had faced:


1. The type of punches Khan throws are very difficult to counter. Mayweather being a counter puncher will find it difficult to land counter shots versus Khan due to the type of punches Khan throws. Khan mainly throws the jab and straight right in quick snappy combinations. Khan doesn’t throw hooks, uppercuts or power punches. These type of punches Mayweather can see coming from a mile away and can easily dodge and counter those type of shots. Khan never loads up on his body weight into his punches. He mostly throws simple punches such as the jab and straight right. Simple punches are the most difficult punches to counter. He throws these type of punches with blistering hand speed in quick snappy combinations and doesn’t put his body weight into them. Khan doesn’t throw lots of brawler style punches like hooks, uppercuts and power punches which Mayweather can see coming a mile away. Khan’s punching technique and the way he utilises his arms is completely wrong for counter style boxers. Khan’s punching technique leaves less gaps and openings for counter shots, because his punches are always quick and snappy. Throwing mostly jabs and straight rights leave less openings and gaps for counter shots, especially when considering the boxer possesses lightning quick hand speed. Simple punches like jabs and straight rights are the most difficult type of punches to counter. Khan is one of the best at excuting and combining the jab and straight right together in combinations because of his blistering hand speed.


2. Khan has good height, reach and foot speed which allows him to control his range and keep a distance from his opponent, thus allowing him to keep on the outside at all times which in turn makes it difficult for someone like Mayweather to land counter shots when the opponent is on the outside at all times. This allows Khan to fight from a distance and will make it difficult for someone like Mayweather to land counter punches. Khan is very quick and efficient at getting in and out of range due to his height, reach, foot speed and hand speed.


3. Mayweather is much more comfortable when his opponent comes forward and fights on the front foot to become the aggressor so he can easily land counter punches on his opponent. But in Khan’s case, he does the opposite and fights mainly on the back foot and keeps his distance rather than come forward onto his opponent and be the aggressor which many brawler style boxers do. It’s much easier to land counter punches against someone who comes forward and applies pressure, as opposed to someone who fights on the back foot. Khan mainly fights on the back foot and stays behind his jab which will obviously prove very difficult for someone like Mayweather to land counter shots.


4. Khan has good volume punching and intensity, meaning he can throw lots and lots of punches in a small amount of time with his blistering hand speed. Mayweather will find it difficult to control the tempo and rhythm of the fight against someone who has good intensity and can throw lots and lots of punches in a small amount of time. Mayweather will also find it difficult to land counter shots against a good volume puncher with good intensity.


5. Khan has a good jab, and a very fast jab, which in turn is very effective at winning rounds, thus will allow him to win rounds over someone like Mayweather. It’s also proven very difficult to land counter punches against someone who stays behind their jab. Khan has a very good jab because of his technique, height, reach, range, foot speed and hand speed.


6. Mayweather doesn’t have the power to trouble Khan. Khan mainly struggles against opponents with good punching power.


7. Khan’s blistering hand speed will trouble Mayweather. It’s always proven very difficult to land counter punches against opponents with good hand speed. Also at Mayweather’s age the last person you would want to be up against is a younger fighter with very good hand speed.


In conclusion Amir Khan’s boxing style is completely wrong for counter style boxers. He has the style and all the attributes to trouble counter style boxers. His boxing technique, intensity, hand speed, footwork, movement, height, reach, range, can make it very difficult for counter style boxers to execute counter shots. With Khan’s style and boxing technique he leaves less openings and gaps for counter style punchers. Mayweather has never faced an opponent with all those attributes. Styles make fights and in my opinion Khan would have been Mayweather’s toughest opponent.


In my opinion Mayweather’s best chance of beating Amir Khan would be to come forward and apply pressure. If Mayweather fights on the counter then in my opinion he has no chance of beating Amir Khan. Mayweather would have to change his style and become the aggressor. Coming forward and applying pressure brings plenty of other problems to the table:

1. Mayweather is not a big puncher. Fighters and brawlers that like to come forward, it obviously helps them a lot if they tend to have good punching power. Khan mostly struggles against big punchers.
2. When boxers come forward and apply pressure they will always get caught and run into lots of punches. Coming forward and applying pressure makes it difficult to avoid getting caught.
3. If Mayweather comes forward, Khan can counter that because he has good volume punching and intensity, which can make it more difficult for Floyd to apply pressure and get into his rhythm and tempo to control the fight.
4. If Mayweather does come forward and apply pressure, Khan has the foot speed, height, reach to control his range and keep a good distance away from Mayweather.

These are the reasons why I believe that Floyd Mayweather vs Amir Khan would have been a very interesting fight and in my opinion Amir Khan would have given Floyd Mayweather a better fight than any other opponent he had previously fought. This fight would have been like a chess match. A tactical fight. The fight definitely would have made sense and it definitely should have happened.


I would like to make it very clear that I’m not claiming Amir Khan will 100 per cent beat Mayweather but I genuinely believe that Khan would have been his toughest opponent because of his boxing style and attributes. Styles make fights and it definitely would have been an interesting match up.

 

At the same time he has taken a few big hits from the likes of Maidana and Lamont Peterson

 

Don’t think Amir Khan was ever outboxed during his peak. Plus I don’t think Mayweather has got the power to trouble Khan.

 

Floyd is definitely the more complete and skilled boxer but I do feel Khan’s boxing style was wrong for counter punchers.

I think Khan’s footwork was very very good. If not better, as good as Mayweather’s. I wouldn’t necessarily say Mayweather’s power was overwhelmingly greater than Khan’s. Mayweather was definitely the more accurate puncher and better defensively.

At his peak, Khan was one of the best out there at controlling range and winning rounds over his opponents.