By Phil D. Jay
WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan has requested a meeting with former fitness coach Alex Ariza over the weekend to discuss the possible reinstatement of the strength and conditioner. Khan, 24, was unhappy with his fitness in his last defence against Paul McCloskey and is set to re-appoint Ariza after their public fallout.
Khan parted company with Ariza just days after his greatest career performance against Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas last December, where Ariza was largely praised as a major reason for the improvement in the Briton’s punch resistance as Maidana threw a barrage of punches at the champion, who stayed on his fight throughout.
The Olympic silver medallist then appointed a replacement in Michael Vale to get him into shape for his homecoming bout against Irishman Paul McCloskey, but Khan and trainer Freddie Roach were not fully happy with the shape that the titleholder was in during the fight.
“We are having a meeting with Amir, myself and Alex. The Khans requested it,” Roach told The Telegraph.
“Amir did not look himself against Paul McCloskey. It was his first time Amir came to me and he had not worked with Alex. I wasn’t really that satisfied with the McCloskey fight.”
If both sides can agree on a peace deal, then it would represent a huge u-turn by team Khan, who were adamant that Ariza was a problem in the camp and had no qualms in dropping him from the team. Khan is still searching for his next opponent for his July date, with a bout with Timothy Bradley seemingly about to fall through.
Phil D. Jay covers the boxing scene for worldboxingnews.net