Amir Khan Report Card.

This is my take of Amir Khan's performance, and what is showed, against Gomez. It's not a round by round affair, but rather a general commentary on what he displayed. It's addressing the question of whether or not Amir Khan is a legitimate international threat at his weight class, or just a young prospect hailing from an area lacking a huge array of superstar talent. POWER It's a bit hard to gauge Khan's power based on this fight. Gomez got hit flush many, many times. Prior to the referee stopping things in the 5th, Khan had been able to catch Gomez coming in, and going out- and showed great speed by nailing his opponent multiple times. Gomez is no stranger to stoppages- he's been TKO'D six times now. While Khan was able to stop Gomez it wasn't a display of one punch power,- certainly he proved the opposite- that he doesn't have that kind of power, he did TKO his man after unleashing a heaping of damage over several rounds, though. But no single shot seemed to devastate Gomez, and his chin had obviously failed him several times before his fight with Khan. So, Khan showed he CAN stop his man, but much of that is accumulative damage. GRADE: B- SPEED: Yeah, there's no doubt Khan showed hand speed. He possess fast hands. Not blazing fast- but he'll get to the punch first against many other lightweights. Khan let a vast array of punches out and threw out several vicious combinations before stopping his man. It was the single most obvious category where he outclassed Gomez completely. GRADE: A- DEFENSE: This is where Khan showed some problems. He likes to move forward- one can imagine because he's usually hunting down a scared journeymen- and let his fists go. It's the type of offensive style you see in many fast up-and-comers. They haven't been in with anyone who poses a real threat, and so haven't learned the need to be defensive. Khan was hit by some very nasty shots you would think a championship level fighter could avoid. Gomez swung many wide, looping shots- and generally was too slow to threaten Khan with many combinations. Khan was put on the floor with a sharp inside left hook that Gomez threw over a jab. It was a hard shot and Khan didn't even see it. In fact, Amir looked very wobbly for the rest of the round. It wasn't an isolated affair, either. I noticed Gomez was very effective inside all night. Khan chomped on quite a few uppercuts while inside that he couldn't seem to avoid. After being put down- I believe in the 4th- Khan was hurt later in the fight by an inside hook to the body. Hurt badly. His arm instantly shot down to protect his ribs- and this let Gomez tee off as Khan kept his hand down, favoring his left side, for the rest of the round. The announcers thought he might have broken his ribs from the way he was shielding them. Overall, Gomez was able to tag Khan too much inside. Speed gives Khan decent movement- both with footwork and head movement- but he showed speed doesn't help his weak defenses inside. GRADE: C- OFFENSE Khan put together combinations. He landed strong jabs, straights- hooks and uppercuts. The arsenal was there. It's obvious he's been able to use it often and without fear throughout his career. It isn't all sharp, accurate offense, though. Much of Khan's attack is simply using his speed to swarm in and batter a man with work and get in what he can doing it. Further, Gomez was at home inside- and so he was brawling, winging shots, and trying to get close to Khan to work. Despite this, Khan was comfortable letting Gomez brawl. He showed no ring generalship at all. It was obvious Gomez had baited Khan into a bit of a slug fest- knowing his chance was landing a power shot against the faster man; which he did when he put Khan down. Despite Khan being the heralded prospect, he let the older Gomez draw Khan to bang rather than keep his man outside. Khan looked poor whenever Gomez worked in close- so why couldn't Khan jab and keep his man at distance until he'd picked his shots? Amir looked fast, and threw his punches well- and an array of them- yet didn't show the ability to fight HIS fight- or to pick the right offensive strategy in-fight. GRADE: B+ OVERALL: B- Khan showed speed. Khan showed the ability to come off the canvas and win. Amir even showed he wasn't afraid to use his speedy offense as his defense even when hurt. There were some glaring defensive holes- namely his inside weaknesses. Further, Khan had an easy fight if he jabbed more- he was the taller fighter and Gomez only showed real promise when fighting close to Khan. Unable to establish reach, he let Gomez draw him into a fast paced banging competition- which he won. The stoppage was a bit early possibly- but Gomez had been getting battered. Khan did not look like he was anywhere near at a level to fight a real, legitimate force at lightweight. His speed is impressive- and he has enough power to hurt you, and through accumulation stop his man. If helped along slowly, it is possible Khan can still improve - but after 18 fights you'd start to hope he shows growth in some very fundamental areas extremely soon. At this point, Khan looks good- he's exciting to watch- but is not a true contender for any major championship at 135. Defensive flaws, no experience to display ring generalship, and having already shown an average chin, not a granite one, he needs work. In closing, he's still a prospect who needs to improve rapidly in a few key areas, but has the athletic ability to be a power at lightweight should he be able to do so.