Andre Ward Gives Blessing: Khan, Hunter a Good Match

By Luis Sandoval

As it was reported on BoxingScene, Amir Khan has tabbed Virgil Hunter to replace former trainer Freddie Roach after suffering two back to back losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Khan expressed he felt he wasn’t getting enough time with Freddie as he often had to share camps with Roach’s prized fighter Manny Pacquiao.

According to Roach, Khan’s team informed him they would stay with him only if he got rid of Pacquiao and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and make Khan his top priority. Roach informed them he couldn’t do that and now they have gone their separate ways.

Virgil Hunter however also trains current WBC & WBA Super Middleweight champion Andre Ward. Ward was on the most recent edition of BoxingScene’s official radio show The Boxing Lab and was asked if he felt there would be any problems with Khan training with Hunter as Khan had made it clear he didn’t want to take the backseat to any other fighter.

“I mean obviously I don’t have a problem with it and I think that’s a big reason why they were able to get that done. I’m sure that came up in their discussions whenever they talked. So I think, and I can be wrong, but some of what Amir is saying is he and Pacquiao trained during the same time a lot. They would be in the gym together, they would run together” explained Ward.

“Ofcourse I’m going to spend time with Amir and different things like that but I don’t know if that’s going to be our situation. Like he’s fighting in November or December. I just think it’s going to be different. So he’s going to have Virgil when he has him and when it’s my time to do my work I’m going to have him and that’s kind of it. I don’t think that it’s going to be a problem. I think if it was going to be a problem they would’ve addressed that before they made a pact to do work together”.

Virgil Hunter received Trainer of the Year for his work with Andre Ward in the Super Six Tournament and will also be working with Middleweight contender Fernando Guerrero. Hunter is becoming one of the more coveted trainers in the sport and Ward feels he and Khan will be a great match.

“I hope it works out because I think Amir Khan is a good fit for Virgil and Virgil is a good fit for Amir because Virgil is great with tall fighters and giving them a concept of defense. Not only defense, but the best defense for that fighter. And Amir is already a dynamite fighter offensively and I think the defensive improvements are going to help him a whole lot” Ward would tell The Boxing Lab.

You can listen to Andre Ward’s interview in its entirety by listening to The Boxing Lab podcast: http://tobtr.com/s/3651969