Khan vs. Kotelnik - Amir Preps For a Tough Camp

[Dave Rado]

Also steelhead, Khans fight against Barerra showed us nothing in terms of Khans improvement.
We already knew he had fast hands from a million years ago since he fought in the Olympics. There wasn't anything really special in that fight.

It's easy to look composed against a guy you have a huge advantage over from the very first round.

Either you didn't watch that fight properly or you didn't watch his previous fights. Before teaming up with Roach, he kept his hands far too low, especially after throwing combinations; rarely used his jab properly, rarely moved laterally; tended to throw punches wildly without any regard to defence, and in doing so, leaving his chin exposed and leaving himself off balance and moving straight onto any counters; almost never clinched when hurt; and in short, had learnt absolutely nothing about the fundamentals of professional boxing. Against Barrera, he kept his hands high almost throughout, and in particular, he got his hands back in front of his chin very quickly immediately after throwing a combination; he used his jab very well; he moved laterally and his footwork was dramatically improved in general; he was much more disciplined and economical when throwing combinations and never left himself off balance; and whenever he was hit by a solid shot, he clinched immediately and effectively. I can't believe you couldn't see that.

It's true that the fight was nowhere near as much of a test as it should have been, due to Barrera being blind in one eye for most of the fight; but nevertheless, he showed he has clearly improved his fundamentals dramatically since teaming up with Roach.

[The Surgeon]

Either you didn't watch that fight properly or you didn't watch his previous fights. Before teaming up with Roach, he kept his hands far too low, especially after throwing combinations; rarely used his jab properly, rarely moved laterally; tended to throw punches wildly without any regard to defence, and in doing so, leaving his chin exposed and leaving himself off balance and moving straight onto any counters; almost never clinched when hurt; and in short, had learnt absolutely nothing about the fundamentals of professional boxing. Against Barrera, he kept his hands high almost throughout, and in particular, he got his hands back in front of his chin very quickly immediately after throwing a combination; he used his jab very well; he moved laterally and his footwork was dramatically improved in general; he was much more disciplined and economical when throwing combinations and never left himself off balance; and whenever he was hit by a solid shot, he clinched immediately and effectively. I can't believe you couldn't see that.

It's true that the fight was nowhere near as much of a test as it should have been, due to Barrera being blind in one eye for most of the fight; but nevertheless, he showed he has clearly improved his fundamentals dramatically since teaming up with Roach.

Even against ***an he looked more composed and less reckless, hands higher and so on. He seems to have learned his lesson and its a good job because his chin is below world class. EVERYTHING else he has, Size, Speed, Snappy power, Great stamina and footwork, and he throws every punch in the book and well! Plus the kids heart is huge

[Dave Rado]

I reallly dislike Khan getting all this PPV and hype time when the true warriors of British boxing, such as Froch and Haye, go under the radar a bit. Especially Froch who gave us two brilliant fights against two of the best North American supermiddleweights and prevailed in both. Khan on the other hand got starched in 54 seconds against an unknown and was brought crashing down to reality.

He's a young naive kid, it wasn't his idea to sign up for PPV too early, it was Warren's, and at his age he can't be expected to have enough maturity and character to tell Warren to piss off in those circumstances. You should hate Warren for that, not Khan.

It's not surprising that someone with a glittering amateur career, an Olympic Silver medal, obvious huge talent, and an exciting style would get a lot of exposure. Again, holding that against him is ridiculous. In any country other than Britain he'd have the entire country behind him - it's a bad reflection on us as a country that so many of us don't support some of our best sportsmen.

And Prescott may have been unknown (like Froch was until recently) but he's still a world class prospect with an extremely heavy punch, who is now ranked #8 at Lightweight by The Ring. And Khan had never been taught the fundamentals of professional boxing before the Prescott fight (which was Warren's fault, not his); whereas he now has a world class trainer, and would probably be the narrow favourite to win a rematch now.

Your comparison with Froch is disingenious, IMO. Before the Pascal fight, Froch had done nothing to merit wide exposure; and although that fight was very exciting, it also exposed his flaws, which are serious; and Pascal, though a good fighter, isn't world class. Froch deserves major props for the Taylor fight, and should start to get a lot more exposure now. But he has also contributed to his relative lack of popularity by consistently dissing a retired fighter who most boxing experts rate among the top 5 Britain has ever produced, a classic case of shooting himself in the foot.

[Dave Rado]

Even against ***an he looked more composed and less reckless, hands higher and so on.

I agree, but even a one-eyed Barrera was far more of a test than ***an. And he'd clearly improved considerably even since the ***an fight.

I still think he won't be ready for Ortiz yet though, or for Bradley or Witter, which is why I think making the Kotelnik fight was a very bad move strategically even if he wins it.

[GrizzleBoy]

Either you didn't watch that fight properly or you didn't watch his previous fights. Before teaming up with Roach, he kept his hands far too low, especially after throwing combinations; rarely used his jab properly, rarely moved laterally; tended to throw punches wildly without any regard to defence, and in doing so, leaving his chin exposed and leaving himself off balance and moving straight onto any counters; almost never clinched when hurt; and in short, had learnt absolutely nothing about the fundamentals of professional boxing. Against Barrera, he kept his hands high almost throughout, and in particular, he got his hands back in front of his chin very quickly immediately after throwing a combination; he used his jab very well; he moved laterally and his footwork was dramatically improved in general; he was much more disciplined and economical when throwing combinations and never left himself off balance; and whenever he was hit by a solid shot, he clinched immediately and effectively. I can't believe you couldn't see that.

It's true that the fight was nowhere near as much of a test as it should have been, due to Barrera being blind in one eye for most of the fight; but nevertheless, he showed he has clearly improved his fundamentals dramatically since teaming up with Roach.

That's all well and good, but I think it's quite ironic that you say you think I must've not watched the fight properly.

Khan never left himself off balance? There were at least two or three times he was caught by Barerra that people put down to him being off balance. People even made gifs of them.

Also, like I said before, it's easy to look good against an opponent who has such a huge disadvantage from round one.

When you're not being pressured and can see yourself that the other man standing in front of you is probably going to have the fight stopped very soon because of a cut unless he starts lunging in trying to knock you out, it's easy to do all the stuff you want to do.

Holding it together while under pressure/fatigue etc would be an indicator that he's got it down, but when everything is going your way from round one, it's hard not to look good.

I also refuse to give any pro fighter props for keeping his hands up and I also refuse to put it down to any trainer after he's been boxing for about ten years. I don't know what gym Khan trained at for all those years, but there isn't a single Amateur gym that doesn't teach you to keep your hands up so I'm confused as to why you keep saying he wasn't "taught the fundamentals of professional boxing"?

Amateur boxing IS the fundamentals of professional boxing and he knows to keep his hands up.

There is no boxer alive who isn't a total ****** who doesn't know themselves that they should keep their hands up, he just didn't put it into his boxing in the ring.

It's down to him at the end of the day how he fights regardless of what the trainer says (we've seen that with Ricky Hatton recently), and I see it more as a personal decision that he decided that he wanted to change certain things he did after he was KO'd.

[Dave Rado]

Also, like I said before, it's easy to look good against an opponent who has such a huge disadvantage from round one.

Even a one-eyed Barrera was much more of a threat than a two eyed ***an or any two-eyed journeyman. I agree it wasn't the test it should have been, though, but will you give him props if he beats Kotelnik?

I also refuse to give any pro fighter props for keeping his hands up

The point isn't whether he deserves props for that (or for the other changes he's made recently), the point is that he wasn't doing those things before he teamed up with Roach.

and I also refuse to put it down to any trainer after he's been boxing for about ten years. I don't know what gym Khan trained at for all those years, but there isn't a single Amateur gym that doesn't teach you to keep your hands up so I'm confused as to why you keep saying he wasn't "taught the fundamentals of professional boxing"?

He could get away with his amateurish style when he was an amateur - the proof of that is the fact that he not only won an Olympic silver medal, but he then beat the world's best amateur in his weight class (Kindelán) in their rematch.

Amateur boxing IS the fundamentals of professional boxing and he knows to keep his hands up.

No it isn't. Look at Hopkins as an example of a current professional who has perfected the fundamentals of the professional game. He would do very badly with that style in the amateur game, and would be outpointed by vastly inferior fighters. By contrast, look at James De Gale, whose style allowed him to win an Olympic gold medal - but if he doesn't change that style now he's a professional, he'll be worn down and badly beaten up by the first decent body puncher he faces.

The point is that the amateur scoring system ignores the effectiveness of punches, any punch that the judges see is scored the same; flashy pitty pat punches are far more likely to be scored than hard body punches; and the fights are too short for a smart boxer to be worn down by a tough fighter.

There is no boxer alive who isn't a total ****** who doesn't know themselves that they should keep their hands up, he just didn't put it into his boxing in the ring.

Fast, skilled amateurs can get away with low hands, and some professionals can as well, such as Ali, Jones and even Calzaghe. But it was obvious even before the Limond fight that Khan can't get away with it in the professional game. A good trainer would have made him change his style radically even before the Limond fight - and certainly immediately after it. A good trainer would also have stood up to Warren more regarding the lack of meaningful competition that he could learn from in his early career, which was very bad for him in the long run. Over-protecting a fighter is not the way for them to achieve their long term potential.

It's down to him at the end of the day how he fights regardless of what the trainer says (we've seen that with Ricky Hatton recently)

Khan's an impressionable kid who's keen to learn, Hatton is a veteran who is set in his ways.