Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan To Train Together

[hugh grant]

Khan respects Pacman. Always mentioning him. Even stalking him now and his trainer.
But it will do Khan good.

[edgarg]

To some extent, yes. But also there's the relationship between the fighter and trainer. If it works, it works.

It only works with success-success. Personal relationships are based on mutual liking, professional relationships are based on SUCCESS and respect (maybe even on one side only).

How many times have we seen "weeell... we get along real good, but I believe that it's now time for me to go into a higher gear and advance my career" etc. This meansthat the fighter has just been beaten, or has had someone whispering in his ear that he deserves "better" than the man who discovered and cared for him. Or his girl friend has become too possessive and run afoul of the trainer.

My own opinion is that success is based mostly on the fighters talent and boxing brain. We sometimes still have top trainers who have been with their top fighters from the beginning, like Nacho Beristain, but they are few, and only very rarely nowadays will both the trainer and fighter retire together. The days of Jimmy McLarnin and Pops Foster are long, long gone.

Trainers are in it to make money, and will take anyone within reason on, if they have the space, and think they can make something with him. Look how Arturo Gatti had his career "revived" for him when it was glaringly plain that he needed to retire before he was killed in the ring. And on that...maybe he was...we still have to wait a few years to find out.

We have the usual "musical chairs with fighters changing to trainers whose fighters may have left them to go to other trainers, and so on.

It reminds me of when I was a kid we used to send our washing out to a commercial laundry, of which there were 4, all of approx equal reputation. When we'd lose too many Irish linen handkerchiefs (stolen by staff) we'd change to one of the others, whilst THEIR customers were leaving them and changing to our former laundry. And change once more when we again lost more han...... And every so often we ended up back with.the same one we began with.

This occasionally happens in boxing too, but there are too many trainers out there for it to happen as a normal thing.

And this is the way it went, and still does.

The Merry-Go-Round broke down...Whilst we were going 'round... etc.etc. just like the old song.

[JAS_JAS]

I think having a feel for how a P4P champ will benefit khan, his experience with how pacman trains and pac's dedication to training will inspire him to work harder and be humble. Not letting the hype get into his head and work on improving himself.

[RisAri0]

I only wish their sparring session is captured in video.

[DrewWoodside]

I hope hanging out with Amir Khan doesn't have any negative effects on Pac's chin.

[Miburo]

Roach had better not let them spar or Khan is going nighty-night...repeatedly.

[Jose Rizal]

It appears that when UK lightweight superstar Amir Khan comes to Hollywood, California to meet with trainer Freddie Roach at the famous Wild Card gym, he will get the chance to work with Roach's prize pupil - WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Khan, who a few weeks back suffered his first career loss via a crushing 54-second knockout at the hands of Colombian puncher Breidis Prescott, has fired trainer Jorge Rubio and looking to Roach as the new man to guide his career. [details]

They think this kid is such a superstar that they are going to evaluate Roach and not the other way around?

I remember back when Pac 1st stepped foot on US soil and made his way from the East Coast to the West and no trainer would take him based on their evaluation... hehe.

Khan needs to come back down to Earth if that beat down from Prescott wasn't enough to keep him honest with himself. He's lucky Roach is even considering him right now.

[ELPacman]

Khan better watch out. If they spar, Pacquiao just might damage Khan forever. He'll be Vargas type spoiled goods. Gatti type spoiled goods. Mayorga type spoiled goods. This is bad for him

[We want Floyd]

I think that this is a good observation. I just don't think that The Roach is a good enough trainer for a speedy, TALL lightweight with a delicate chin. I believe that his routines are heavily influenced by Manny P's style.

If Khan is mainly an offensive fighter, he's bound to leave openings which even allowing for his speed, a top fighter would regard as an invitation to lay him out....to DELINEATE his "linear" potential, in fact.

I totally disagree with your observations of Roach's coaching style.

The reason why you see Roach the way he is, is because he has an offensive machine in PACquiao. A coach's job is to further enhance his ward's strengths and try to bring up weaknesses. Roach started training PAC in his mid to late 20's, so PAC brought alot of his bad habits with him already. Trying to make a fighter do a complete 180 in mid-stride is often difficult if not impossible. What I have pointed out is what seperates Roach from other trainers. He doesn't try to mold them in what he used to be as a fighter, he works with what he has.

In PAC's case, Roach has a fighter, who is aggressive and has alot of tenacity just like he did when he was a fighter.

Alot of trainers try to make their fighters like how they use to fight, there's nothing wrong with it, if their fighter has similar abilities and temperament.

So no, I don't think you'll be seeing Khan fighting ala PAC. Roach is old school tough, PAC is old school tough, hopefully they can instill that toughness in Khan.

Another upside with Khan training alongside PAC is they both have something in common, they both got ko'd early in their careers and look where PAC is now. Khan can definitely feed off of that.

[We want Floyd]

Khan better watch out. If they spar, Pacquiao just might damage Khan forever. He'll be Vargas type spoiled goods. Gatti type spoiled goods. Mayorga type spoiled goods. This is bad for him

I agree with you, man. If it wasn't Roach that we're talkin' about, this maybe an issue. But Roach is kinda like a Phil Jackson, he doesn't just teach the finer points of the game, but he's also great at the psyche game.

He knows that Khan is a bit fragile right now, I don't think he'll be throwin' him in against Monster PAC in there, especially PAC is preppin' for the biggest fight of his career. If anything Khan will be "shadowing" PAC, taking notes.