By Ronnie Nathanielsz
WBA light welterweight champion Amir Kha,n who watched pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao hammer WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto into submission in 55 seconds of the 12th round at the MGM Grand last Saturday, was inspired by Pacquiao’s performance.
Khan who also trains under Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles said Pacquiao was “amazing and he inspires you. When you see a great champion do that and think about the fact that I was training with the guy for five weeks, to pick up even a little bit of experience from that is going to help me in my career.”
Khan told BBC Sport “I totally respect him and what a great performance he produced at the weekend.”
Pacquiao’s conditioning expert Alex Ariza who also works with Khan and undefeated light middleweight prospect Vanes Martirosyan told us both young fighters drew inspiration from the Filipino who set a record of winning seven world titles in seven different weight divisions. He said “just watching Manny perform that night lit some fire underneath both of them. They are inspired by him really.”
Ariza said “its so good for these younger guys in their earlier 20’s to be around Manny, see his work ethic. They see how he comes along and keeps getting better and better.”
The conditioning guru who teamed up with Roach to turn Pacquiao into an explosive fighter said that he took Khan and Martirosyan to train and “it was pleasing to watch them train so hard” after being clearly inspired by Pacquiao.
He said both Khan (21-1, 15 KO’s) who defends his title against undefeated Dmitriy Salita (30-0-1, 16 KO’s in Newcastle, England on December 5 has a tough fight on his hands and Martirosyan (25-0. 16 KO’s) who clashes with Willie Lee (17-5, 11 KO’s) were “coming along very well.”
When the issue of a possible fight down the road against Pacquiao was raised, Khan said “I can’t really see that happening. I’m sure by the time I get to that level he (Pacquiao) will be calling it a day.”
The young world champion and Athens Olympic Games silver medalist added, we train in the same camp and I’ve got too much respect for Manny to fight him.”
Khan has often conceded that training under three-time “Trainer of the Year” Roach and training with Pacquiao and sparring with him at times has helped him a great deal.
Khan was quoted by BBC Sport as saying that joining Roach in Los Angeles was “the best thing I’ve ever done.”
