Has Khan proved himself on a world level?

Was thinking about this and i dont think he has yet. Sure he has the paper belt, but who has he faced that is world class? you cant say kotelnick is, and barrera was well past it when they fought. i appreciate he's still young so has lots of time to prove himself against world class opposition, but so far has he had faced anyone world class? is paulie a world class fighter?

Comments (8)

John_Hue

Khan has not proved himself at world level as far as I am concerned. Kotelnik is a good journeyman and gate keeper level. Malignaggi is a level up but IMO Bradley and Alexander are world class and none of Khan's fights so far make me think he can live with them. He is very good at what he does well but does not have a complete game. His in fighting skills are woeful but will only be exposed by good fighters. Barry McGuigan pointed out these deficiencies and told him if he were fighting him he would be looking to get inside to do the damage and Khan needed to develop infighting skills otherwise he will be in trouble at world level. This is something Roach should have been working on but it seems to me that Roach has improved what he was good at and has adopted a policy of cherry picking oponents that won't expose him instead of working on his weaknesses. You need a complete game to be truly world class and with Khan I see a flashy vaneer. There is no question he is very talented but his chin is too fragile and we have yet to see him in a hard grueling fight where we can see how robust he is. He is very fit but we have not seen him in a grueling slug fest. Khan has world class publicity, support base and hype. But he looks more illusion to me than real deal.

16y ago

JR_Rider

Having said that, name 5 light-welters who are definitely better than Khan...

16y ago

Wesker115

As stated, he is only 22. He's not world class yet, but is nearly there.

16y ago

mandirigma

Fast-mouth Paulie is just a tune up fight for Khan.

16y ago

Lowkey

nope he has not proved himself at world level he needs to beat a bradley or alexander someone regarded as one of the best at 140 also fighting a puncher like maidana will go a long way maidana might not be the best boxer in the division but khan needs to fight a puncher at some point

16y ago

ophqui

Well excluding khan, the best at 140 are Alexander, Bradley, Paulie and Maidana. One of those has a loss against Kotelnik, Kotelnik never looked in the fight against Khan. Not for a single second. I think that plus the Salita blast out (not that salitas such a great fighter, but the manner of the victory makes it mean something) puts khan at world level. Beating paulies ass will seal it

16y ago

JR_Rider

He is progressing appropriately. There's no point in jumping straight in with the best fighters he could possibly face.

16y ago

The_Demon

the kotelnik win is better than any win paulie has at 140 that said,he hasnt proved himself agaist a big puncher yet but he will in time.hes only 22

16y ago