By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Promising British lightweight Amir Khan (19-1, 15 KO's) is confident he can put his career right back on track with a victory over Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera in their M.E.N Arena clash on March 14.
The 22 year old Olympic silver medalist got a big boost from conditioning expert Alex Ariza who works together with trainer Freddie Roach and former world heavyweight champion Michael Moorer in preparing Khan for the biggest test of his young career.
Ariza told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports from Los Angeles that Khan “looks phenomenal and everything looks so great.”
He said Roach was “working on strategy and breaking down Barrera as a fighter” with the help of Moorer who only recently teamed-up with Roach.
Ariza said he expects “an exciting fight and something really to watch” although he conceded, just as Roach did, that Khan “makes some amateur mistakes” and that Moorer was “probably there for more defensive reasons.”
The conditioning expert noticed that Roach “spends a lot more time teaching and perfecting certain things defensively and offensively than he did in the last fight” when Khan overwhelmed Oisin Fagan in two rounds last December 6 after training under Roach for a few weeks.
Khan himself acknowledged that he benefited immensely from a few rounds of sparring with Filipino ring hero Manny Pacquiao who, at that time, was preparing for his December 6 bout with Oscar De La Hoya.
The fight against Fagan followed Khan’s only defeat which was a shocking first round knockout by Colombia ’s Breidis Prescott last September.
Ariza said Barrera is “a good body puncher, very crafty and Amir will have to be very, very strong physically for this fight as well as in condition. Like Freddie said he must be able to fight three minutes of every round.”
He disclosed that Khan qa doing a lot of plyometrics strength training early and will taper off and concentrate on speed the last three weeks.”
