Barrera Not Worried About Khan's Physical Advantages

[big paulie]

Chins can improve. Ali was chinny in his early career and had a superb chin later on. In his late career, Shavers hit Ali with everything he had and couldn't knock him down, yet in his early career he was saved by the bell after a single left hook from Henry Cooper, who was not a particularly big puncher.

Khan's whole body has changed dramatically since joining Roach. He used to have spindly legs and too much muscle on his back. Now his legs are sturdier and his back is leaner and more flexible. This will improve both his punch-resistance and his upper body movement.

He's also been doing conditioning exercises (neck etc) that may help his punch resistance.

He used to keep his hands low and his chin in the air. He now keeps his hands up and his chin tucked in much more.

Khan had never been taught how to block or roll with punches properly, before Roach took him on. He's been working intensively on that with Roach. Also his stance used to be all wrong, and Roach has been working on that, too - and stance has a lot to do with punch resistance.

He also didn't used to clinch when hurt, so that once he was hurt it was easy to hit him with follow-up punches. He's been working on that, too.

His tactics in general used to be appalling - he has a superb jab but he rarely used it properly before teaming up with Roach. He used to swing so wildly that he moved straight onto punches, which has the effect of greatly increasing their effective power - analogous to two cars in a head-on collision. The effect on him of Prescott's jab is over-stated - Nigel Benn was knocked out cold by a jab against Michael Watson, and Watson wasn't a great puncher. If you're moving onto a hard jab and don't see it coming, it can do damage.

He has sparred intensively with Pacquiao, and stood up well to his punches, reportedly. Not the same as fighting Pac for real, obviously, but Pac hits pretty hard even in sparring.

You talk 'Khan used to do this and used to do that' as if it was a decade ago and Roach has got Khan slipping and blah blah blah, he got splattered like 5 months ago for god sake, 5 MONTHS! Ali evolved as a fighter for years after the Cooper fight before having to withstand the shots of Frazier and Foreman. As much as Khan has advantages in this fight and yes Roach will benefit him you cannot transform from amateurish style to a pro ring general in such a short space of time.
Nigel Benn was put out by a jab after taking round after round of the type of shots Prescott took Khan out with, Benn was spent. Its the way khans legs completely went after taking that first jab, he has been wobbled and put down so many times in his young career its no fluke, his chin is appauling and no amount of neck excersise is going to improve that

[Slater P Persin]

I think Khan might be getting in over his head.....

[Spacey1991]

I just hope nobody jumps on the bandwagon if Khan KO's Barrera like they did before the Prescott fight (nobody on here I wasn't join up then, I mean British public).

[Dave Rado]

You talk 'Khan used to do this and used to do that' as if it was a decade ago and Roach has got Khan slipping and blah blah blah, he got splattered like 5 months ago for god sake, 5 MONTHS! Ali evolved as a fighter for years after the Cooper fight before having to withstand the shots of Frazier and Foreman. As much as Khan has advantages in this fight and yes Roach will benefit him you cannot transform from amateurish style to a pro ring general in such a short space of time.
Nigel Benn was put out by a jab after taking round after round of the type of shots Prescott took Khan out with, Benn was spent. Its the way khans legs completely went after taking that first jab, he has been wobbled and put down so many times in his young career its no fluke, his chin is appauling and no amount of neck excersise is going to improve that

He looked far better in his last fight than in any previous one. ***an is no great shakes, but he is normally very durable but wasn't durable against Khan, and Khan didn't look amateurish in that fight. I didn't say it was a fluke that he had been put down several times, I said it was because he had not learnt the fundamentals of professional boxing - as you say, he was very amateurish in those previous fights, didn't block or roll with punches, didn't clinch when hurt, and all the other failings I listed in my previous post, which Roach has now been working on.

If Khan was really as bad as you think, in terms of potential, I don't believe Roach would have taken him on. Roach really has no need to take on mugs, and he doesn't need the money (and he won't make much money out of him in any case unless he is successful). And Khan reportedly stands up well to Pac's punches in sparring.

[Dave Rado]

I just hope nobody jumps on the bandwagon if Khan KO's Barrera like they did before the Prescott fight (nobody on here I wasn't join up then, I mean British public).

I think the best possible result Khan can hope for is a UD (unless Barerra get really badly gassed, which I don't think will happen). But I agree on the importance of keeping things in perspective - even if he wins, he's nowhere near ready for a world title shot yet, he needs some learning fights against a few fringe contenders first. Other than Prescott he hasn't fought a single fringe contender yet - his matchmaking has been appalling, IMO.

[S.G.]

Actually I think it's Khan's physical advantages that will decide this fight

He has a speed advantage, size advantage, reach advantage, power advantage and youth advantage

The only reason Barrera has a chance in Hell of winning this fight is Khan's terrible chin

Khan will overwhelm Barrera and TKO him, although I sincerely hope Barrera can recapture his best form for this one night and send Khan into obscurity for once and for all

[lest26]

Kevin Mitchell is a super-featherweight, Jamie Moore is a light middleweight. I agree they deserve more publicity. I don't think they have nearly as much potential as Khan but it's true they are at a higher level than he is, in their respective weight divisions, currently.

John Murray hasn't fought anyone yet, he's been even more over-protected than Khan has. His best win so far was against someone rated #98 by boxrec; and he looked limited in that fight. It's not his fault that he's been over-protected, that's down to Hennessy, but still, he's done nothing to justify being mentioned here so far.

yeah i wasnt talking about there weight divisions, and i think you will find john murray has been in with higher class and mitchel certainly has, khans have all been hand picked bums and prescot was a huge mistake and boxrec isnt the most reliable source is it, barrera reeks of desperation and khans chin cant imoprove.

[lest26]

Chins can improve. Ali was chinny in his early career and had a superb chin later on. In his late career, Shavers hit Ali with everything he had and couldn't knock him down, yet in his early career he was saved by the bell after a single left hook from Henry Cooper, who was not a particularly big puncher.

Khan's whole body has changed dramatically since joining Roach. He used to have spindly legs and too much muscle on his back. Now his legs are sturdier and his back is leaner and more flexible. This will improve both his punch-resistance and his upper body movement.

He's also been doing conditioning exercises (neck etc) that may help his punch resistance.

He used to keep his hands low and his chin in the air. He now keeps his hands up and his chin tucked in much more.

Khan had never been taught how to block or roll with punches properly, before Roach took him on. He's been working intensively on that with Roach. Also his stance used to be all wrong, and Roach has been working on that, too - and stance has a lot to do with punch resistance.

He also didn't used to clinch when hurt, so that once he was hurt it was easy to hit him with follow-up punches. He's been working on that, too.

His tactics in general used to be appalling - he has a superb jab but he rarely used it properly before teaming up with Roach. He used to swing so wildly that he moved straight onto punches, which has the effect of greatly increasing their effective power - analogous to two cars in a head-on collision. The effect on him of Prescott's jab is over-stated - Nigel Benn was knocked out cold by a jab against Michael Watson, and Watson wasn't a great puncher. If you're moving onto a hard jab and don't see it coming, it can do damage.

He has sparred intensively with Pacquiao, and stood up well to his punches, reportedly. Not the same as fighting Pac for real, obviously, but Pac hits pretty hard even in sparring.

yes tactics wise there is improvments he can do to protect the chin as for ali vs cooper thats an entirley diffrent kettle of fish, cooper almost knocked Ali out but he didnt did he, plus cooper was a known big hitter, he could have knocked almost any man out, so for Ali to get back in the fight shows he had a good chin with good ability to recoup fast, khan is no ali and when he gets hit his legs go, not even a good or hard shot is needed.

Khan has no advantage over barrera expect physical ones, he dont have the skills or power to beat barrera

[big paulie]

He looked far better in his last fight than in any previous one. ***an is no great shakes, but he is normally very durable but wasn't durable against Khan, and Khan didn't look amateurish in that fight. I didn't say it was a fluke that he had been put down several times, I said it was because he had not learnt the fundamentals of professional boxing - as you say, he was very amateurish in those previous fights, didn't block or roll with punches, didn't clinch when hurt, and all the other failings I listed in my previous post, which Roach has now been working on.

If Khan was really as bad as you think, in terms of potential, I don't believe Roach would have taken him on. Roach really has no need to take on mugs, and he doesn't need the money (and he won't make much money out of him in any case unless he is successful). And Khan reportedly stands up well to Pac's punches in sparring.

Khan obviously has potential, he's an olympian (though of course that is no guarantee to pro success) and fighters can and do adjust, i think though that if put under serious pressure from Barrera the little things that Roach has implemented in Khan in such a short space of time will count for nothing, i think the faults will re-emerge and he will revert to the Khan we have become used to, Khan has been boxing in the same style more or less for at least 8 years so roach will be great for him but it will take time

[Tuggers1986]

Absolutely. But he does have real talent, and has been very badly managed so far, IMO. He's on the right track now, having teamed up with Roach, but was very badly trained before then. His match-making has been very poor, going from being over-protected to over-exposed and back, with very few fights he could actually learn from. I think with Roach in his corner he has quite a good chance in this fight, although it's a massive test; and if he gets through it successfully it will have been a great learning experience for him. But it worries me that Warren has been talking about a world title fight soon after that - even if Khan can win this fight (which is a big if), he's nowhere near ready for a world title fight yet. He needs to fight some fringe contenders first, and that seems to be no part of Warren's plan, which is a big shame. I do think that if his talent is wasted due to bad management, that would not be "tough ****", that would be a real shame. I agree that the money invested in him is completely irrelevant though.

He hasnt been badly managed at all. Who in history has been on PPV and made the money he has after about 15 fights? He's made millions from fighting people we've never heard of. Breidis Prescott hasn't had 10% of the money and exposure Khans had and he beat him!!