By Terence Dooley
Amir Khan treated the media to an open workout at his Bolton-based gym ahead of Saturday night’s WBA light-welterweight world title defence against the Jewish, Brooklyn-based Ukrainian Dmitiry Salita. Khan and Salita clash at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle in a fight that will be broadcast live by Sky Box Office PPV here in the UK.
Amir, 22, worked the pads with his trainer Freddie Roach, and the two men put a lot of effort into performing certain punching drills and counter moves. Roach, who is riding high at the moment, told Boxingscene that his main aim is to turn Khan into a two-fisted puncher.
“We are working on new moves and getting him comfortable with them”, explained Roach, “having him falling into the pocket more instead of pulling away. He’s got a great outside game but we want more on the inside and more work in the pocket. Amir is realising that it is a great place to be, fighting off your opponent’s chest a bit – it makes him the complete fighter.
“I’m not going to be happy until the left hook is as good as the right hand. He has a very good left hook but just needs a little more confidence in it. We’ve been giving him repetitive drills to get him using that left hand a bit more and coordinate both hands, and with the coordination the power will come.”
Indeed, Roach believes that Salita, 27, is fond of the left himself and that Amir can counter Dmitiry as he shapes to throw the shot. “Salita’s best punch is the left hook but he cocks it and tells you about it a little bit, so we can counter him on the inside, with Amir’s quick feet we will be able to take advantage of that,” revealed Roach.
“I have a lot of confidence in my guy, we train really hard, and I feel very good about the fight – I feel we’ll take charge of it early and knock this guy out along the way. I know Salita, he has trained in my gym and is a very nice guy, a tough guy and so forth, but I have the more talented guy.”
Khan’s dominant win over Andrea Kotelnik caused the odd grumble, people wanted to see the gung-ho Khan; Roach, though, had told Amir not to look for the knockout in that one. “No, I wasn’t surprised by how well he boxed,” declared Roach.
“I knew he was ready for that and I was testing him. I didn’t give him the green light for the knockout because I had a gameplan for twelve rounds. I wanted him to fight the perfect fight and not get hit by trying to knock someone out. In this fight, I’ll tell him to go for the knockout once we’ve wore him down a little bit - I want Amir to make a statement in this fight.
“Amir has a great future ahead of him, he wants to go out and represent his country in America. I think he has a lot of pride and the ability to do that, and he will become a big star in the States.”
Alex Ariza hooked up with Roach a couple of years ago, the conditioning coach has whipped Khan into tremendous shape; he believes that the move up to 147lb has suited the champion.
“Anytime you move a fighter up in weight you lose something, well with most fighters, but fortunately for us we have a very good programme and Amir is adapting to it very well. Freddie says that the speed is there, we’ve been focussing on the power and Freddie can feel it on the pads,” answered Ariza.
“The strength and conditioning are key. Amir’s learned so much from the Kotelnik fight and I learned from that one, as it was the first time we had tried anything new with Amir. So it is always a work in progress but in this fight you’ll see him more explosive and powerful.
“He’s only 22, people expect way, way too much right now. I won’t do some of things with Amir that I do with Manny because we are waiting for his body to naturally develop and then see where we go – we don’t want to do too much. Over the course of the years, as he grows into a man physically, we will see what his full potential is, but I see the body of an 154lb fighter in there.
“He stays within shape. His eating habits are good. He is active, playing cricket and soccer; he doesn’t hang out in the bars. After the last fight our celebration was in Blackpool, riding the roller coasters. He is an wholesome kid who lives a clean life, which is always a good thing.”
Ariza is enjoying his time with Roach, who gave him a two-week probation period, this period stretched into two years together and Alex believes that there is more to come. “I started with Freddie two years ago,” confirmed Ariza.
“I was with Erik Morales and Diego Corrales and a few others. I heard that Freddie was one of those trainers who was prepared to think outside the box, always looking for more for their fighters. I went to him and asked for a shot, two weeks to show him what I could do.
“I’ve always been sport specific. A lot of stuff people do in other sports doesn’t apply to us; we only get sixty seconds recovery time. Those three minutes are also the highest intensity that you can produce. Freddie is a high intensity trainer so I knew that if my fighters couldn’t compliment his style I was gone. Freddie, when a fight is announced, says, ‘This is what I’m looking for’, and I find something to compliment that. Everything is about the gameplan with Freddie, there is no such thing as luck – and there are no excuses.”
Strong words from Alex; Amir, though, believes that he won’t need to trot out any excuses after this fight. Indeed, Amir feels that Salita, who has questioned Amir’s chin during the build-up, will be the one making excuses come Saturday night.
“I think he is going to say a lot of things. It is not affecting me,” Amir said. “Since I fought Prescott I’ve been getting this anyway. They’ve got nothing else on me so call me for being chinny. Everyone in America thinks this is one of the best comebacks by a fighter, to come back after a defeat like Prescott and become a world champion, you never normally see that. People can’t believe the way I came back. I made a mistake in that fight and came back a better fighter.
“I had so many Puerto Rican and Philippine fans coming up to me at the Manny-Cotto fight, shaking my hand and telling me I’m a good fighter. I couldn’t believe it because I’ve only fought on HBO once. They’ve read news and media on me and probably seen my clips on Youtube so they’ve done their research over there.”
Breidis Prescott, who rocked Khan’s world last year, will feature on the undercard, he takes on Kevin Mitchell in a WBO lightweight title eliminator; Khan feels that Prescott will be amazed at the reversal in their respective careers since that night at the MEN.
“I think it will be strange for him to see me. He’ll see me as a world champion. He should have really been in my position and I should have been in he’s position but he’s dropped a few spots as he’s gone back a step, he’s been beaten by a guy that wasn’t really a big name and he’s now fighting a guy moving up in weight who he should really beat, but who I think will beat him,” blasted Khan, who then pondered the idea of a rematch with Prescott.
“I don’t know”, he said, “I think I’d still fight him just to prove a point to him and say the first fight was a mistake. I had so many amateur fights because I always wanted to fight guys who had beaten me. You learn from your mistakes and by losing and coming back again. That is the way I am, I’m a champion that way and would fight him to prove a point.
“I’ll take anyone on to a certain extent, I don’t want to step in with Manny or Floyd Mayweather because I think those fights will come in the future. I think I’m going to develop and mature as a fighter and I think those fights can come in the next twelve or fifteen months. For now I’m fighting guys like Salita, Paulie Malignaggi would be a great fight for me, Juan Diaz, maybe at the end of next year we’ll look at Juan Manuel Marquez, which would be a great fight for me.
“These guys are made for my style. Freddie told me that I have the style to beat Marquez. So I asked Freddie the question and said, ‘Look at what he did with Manny Pacquiao’, but Freddie said my style is different as Manny is a southpaw and makes little mistakes that I won’t make, so I think I can go out there and beat Marquez. When your trainer says that it builds your confidence up. I really think I can beat Salita in a good fashion, all that stuff he says just goes over my head, I’ve not taken anything in and not looked at what he’s been saying.”
Khan is still a relative novice, his development was derailed by Prescott and then boosted by Roach’s input, and the fighter believes that the best is yet to come. “I feel strong, both hands are hitting hard but I now think my left hand is as strong as my right hand, we’ve been working on them both and I feel so comfortable sitting there and throwing shots where in the past I’ve moved,” enthused Amir.
“Freddie said I moved a bit too much in the Kotelnik fight and that I should have sat on my shots and thrown them harder, but I didn’t do that, so Freddie is always working on different things. I should push these guys instead of me always going backwards, and I’m trying to do that. I’m hitting harder with both hands and people have been coming to the gym and there has been blood all over the place, not my blood, so training has gone really well. Mentally and physically I feel sharp and fit. I’m not going to disrespect Salita but he is not at that level.
“I still think the workrate was there in the last fight. I’m not a guy who fights for the first half and gets tired. I fought for every round. I’m getting physically stronger, my fitness is getting better and I’m really improved as a fighter.”
Still, there will always be doubts over Khan’s ability to hold a shot, the boxer, though, believes that his previous knockdowns were due to balance and strength issues.
“I think most of the knockdowns in my boxing career were from being off-balance and too tall on my toes but Freddie’s worked on that and got me balanced. I was like an upside down triangle but Alex and Freddie have made me thick on my legs and my top half has come down a little bit. I’m not too big. I know I’m hitting harder and have a lot of strength,” stated Amir.
“I’m not going to try and knock Salita out but it will come without me looking for it, maybe around the mid-rounds, I want to break him down, punish him a little bit. I’ve trained hard and what to get some rounds, sit down on my shots and get some powerful shots in and see if he can handle them, I don’t think he can handle my power,” predicted the champion.
Khan’s father, Shah, was on hand to watch Amir go through his paces. Shah told me that there has been a massive improvement in Khan’s work, and he puts that down to one man: Freddie Roach.
“Amir is incredible. I think he was perfect last time. Kotelnik was a very durable guy with a tight guard and Amir boxed perfectly that fight. Freddie and Amir had a gameplan and he came out a winner,” beamed Shah.
“Amir always had it in him to do that. Kotelnik could not handle the speed and when he tried to come back Amir was nowhere near him. The handspeed and footwork kept Amir out of trouble. He doesn’t go in there looking for knockouts, if the KO comes it comes. I am sure that Freddie has got a gameplan together for this one and that Amir will follow it.”
He continued: “I think he has got everything to become one of the best out there. Amir trains alongside Manny Pacquiao and although Amir is a long way from Manny’s level look at what happened to Manny early in his career and look what Freddie has done with Manny. Amir has got the natural ability there and Freddie is polishing him up really well.
“The defence was a problem before and it is incredible now. Freddie has done a great job. They were trying to slow him down before and getting him to sit on his shots, yeah I can see why, but he is very quick on his feet. Freddie has added other things to that and made him a better fighter.”
Amir now has his own promotional company, this, in turn, has led to assumptions that Amir will end his association with Frank Warren after Saturday night. Shah, however, is adamant that Warren and Khan can work together for years to come.
“This fight is a joint venture with Frank,” revealed Shah. “For future fights, well I’m sure, if everything goes to plan, that we will sit down and talk about it and there is no reason why Frank won’t be involved with future fights.
“The thing is, a lot of top fighters have their own promotions, Ricky did it a bit late on, and Joe was the same, Amir is still young and in the early stages of his career, he has set up he’s company at the ideal time and with people like Frank around him. There is no reason why Frank won’t be with him after this fight.”
Finally, would Shah feel the nerves come the first bell? “I’m just as nervous as when he was an amateur, that is just a natural instinct and I still get nervous – I’m more nervous than him!” he exclaimed.
Khan-Salita tickets are priced at £30, £40, £50, £85, £125, £200 and £300, and are available from:
Metro Radio Arena
0844 248 5013 (dedicated line)
www.metroradioarena.co.uk
Sports Corporation
0845 163 0845
See Tickets
0871 220 0260
www.seetickets.com
The action can also be seen Live on Sky Box Office and in HD from 8pm on Saturday, December the 5th.
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