Virgil tried to change Khan too much. Amir is best when he is aggressive, throws a million punches and dominates with speed. Of course, he is always vulnerable, but at least he has a good chance of hurting the other guy first.
He will never dominate with his technique and being tentative IMO.
Virgil tried to change Khan too much. Amir is best when he is aggressive, throws a million punches and dominates with speed. Of course, he is always vulnerable, but at least he has a good chance of hurting the other guy first.
He will never dominate with his technique and being tentative IMO.
I disagree.
Amir Khan's gift was his handspeed; being aggressive and simply going for broke would help make him an exciting fighter, but actually being schooled on when to use/not use his gift could make him a possibly great welterweight fighter.
Virgil Hunter, for whatever reason, was working to try and make Amir Khan a great fighter. Get him to gauge distance in the ring, fire his sharp shots when the hole opens, be defensively aware at all times, with tools in hand to get back to the corner when hurt.
For three and a half rounds against Saul Alvarez, Amir Khan showed a touch of greatness.
... and then he went back to being Amir Khan; focus started to clearly slip from the body attack, and he begin to telegraph his way in and stay too long as he marvelled at his fast combinations.
Alvarez found the timing, set the trap, and put him to sleep when Khan inevitably made the big mistake from not being focused.
Khan "at his best", likely gets beat by the top 10 welterweights on the planet; for sure the top 5. Khan, using his wits, might actually be a top 5 welterweight in his own right.
I agree that he hasn't been great with Virgil, but that doesn't mean his old style was brilliant, though.
He'd be better going in a new direction but it's probably too late for that at his age.
I think Khan should be with a trainer who can prime him for shooting his load in the first 4 or 5 rounds, then just sailing through the second half of a fight tucking up and not taking any risks. Think a lot of fighters right up to the top fighters could be caught cold with that approach.