By Ronnie Nathanielsz
British lightweight hope and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Amir Khan is doing very well in training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles under the watchful eye of trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning guru Alex Ariza.
In an overseas telephone conversation with insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Ariza said Khan who fights in England on the same day that Manny Pacquiao battles Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas – December 6 – was doing “extremely well.”
Khan is scheduled to fight Irishman Oisin “Gael Force” Fagan (22-5, 13 KO’s) in London .
Ariza said that there have been some remarkable changes in the young Briton who looks “completely different and has come along so well.”
He noted that when boxers are young like Khan “they absorb so much and he has become quite a fighter.”
Ariza said that Khan who sparred with Pacquiao last Thursday is quick and hits hard but that defensively he was weak when he showed up at the Wild Card Gym following his shocking first round KO loss to hard-hitting and undefeated Colombian Breidis Prescott last September.
He said he had made a lot of mistakes and “Freddie was really correcting those things. If you can box with pound-for-pound best in the world (Pacquiao) it can give him confidence to fight anyone and its been really just fine now with him and Manny.”
