By Luis Sandoval
Amir Khan is gearing up for his rematch with Lamont Peterson which will take place on May 19th in Las Vegas, NV at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino. Their first bout was a thrilling affair that was unfortunately then draped in controversy over point deductions and the judging.
There’s no doubt that fight was one of the toughest of Khan’s career. Even though the Bolton native still feels he should’ve got the nod, he still plans to do some things differently in the rematch. BoxingScene.com caught up with Khan and asked if there was anything he saw in the first fight that he could change or improve on.
“I mean there’s always room for improvement. I’m still learning and still getting better and better. [But maybe] fighting on the inside. You know at times boxing him by being on the back foot, I mean, I don’t know why we did that. We could be going forward and fighting him going forward,” said Khan.
Khan also admits he wasn’t necessarily at his best when he fought Lamont. While he was in shape, he feels he wasn’t his usual 100% going into their first fight in Washington D.C.
“I was maybe making a few mistakes in there. I believe I still won the fight but I believe I wasn’t even in my 100%. I mean if you look at the last fight with Judah, fights like Maidana, you see me at a totally different class. But this fight against Lamont, I mean I was in shape but I wasn’t in the best shape,” informed Khan.
“So this next fight there’s going to be no doubt that I’m going to be in the best shape, in the best condition and it’s just brought the hunger in my body again.”
According to Khan, by the time he enters the ring he will have been getting ready for this fight for close to 15 weeks. We often see fighters over train and leave their best in the gym but Khan assures most of his early training is just conditioning.
“I’ve been pacing myself. I’ve been conditioning myself more than anything. Working going through things and setting things up in my mind. I’ve been thinking through more things and to me that’s like training on its own,” explained Amir.
“And physically we’ve been doing things differently. They haven’t been too, too hard but they’ve been things that are going to work for me in the fight."
Khan will be out in the Phillipines training for a month alongside Manny Pacquiao for the first phase of his camp before returning back to Los Angeles at the Wild Card Gym.
You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter @Truewest007. You can also tune in to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene’s official audio show every Tuesday from 6-8PM PST with hosts Ernest Gabion, Luis Sandoval, and Ryan Burton.
