Could Pernell Whittaker Improve Khan's Defense?

**Sage84** · 07-19-2012, 05:00 AM

I've not seen anything from Sweet Pea as a trainer that would make me think he is top class yet. Great fighter, unproven trainer. At the moment there is nothing to say he can improve Khan's defence.

**SPREAD** · 07-19-2012, 05:15 AM

Originally posted by Fix

Imagine Khan with a Whittaker defense.. lol..

We saw signs when Judah was with Whittaker that he was able to imitate a lot of Whittaker's moves and he did improve his defense, but of course ultimately he got beaten by Khan. The downside with Judah is that his offense was reduced but he seemed to be better at timing shots a little bit.

If Khan were to hire Whittaker as a sort of assistant coach, or defense expert, it could potentially improve his defense. Even if it's just for a few weeks or months, Khan could probably learn quite a few things from Whittaker which might help improve his game.

Khan's upper body movement was non-existent in the Garcia fight, and in the sparring he was doing before the fight I didn't see any signs of it either. Whittaker might be able to improve his upper body movement quite significantly. But, I don't think he should hire him as the main coach, only as an assistant coach.

No.

See Zab Judah.

**Fix** · 07-19-2012, 06:31 AM

Originally posted by Sage84

I've not seen anything from Sweet Pea as a trainer that would make me think he is top class yet. Great fighter, unproven trainer. At the moment there is nothing to say he can improve Khan's defence.

Originally posted by SPREAD

No.

See Zab Judah.

In the Mabuza fight you can see Judah's defense was very similar to Whittaker. Against a slower fighter like Mabuza, Judah looked very good in terms of defense. Like I say though, his offense was reduced very significantly. He didn't attack half as much.

This is why I'd recommend only hiring Whittaker as an advisor, or assistant coach temporarily. Learn about the benefits of upper body movement because thats something Khans really starting to forget.

Problem with Whittaker is that he was so good at his upper body movement he neglected to bring hands up a lot of the time. He didn't need to. But Khan would still need to bring his hands back up, he couldn't rely solely on the upper body movement in the same way Whittaker often did.

**Bushbaby** · 07-19-2012, 06:36 AM

If Sweet Pea could talk straight.

**Fix** · 07-19-2012, 06:47 AM

Originally posted by Bushbaby

If Sweet Pea could talk straight.

He could hire Mayweather Sr as a translator.

**ThePunchingBag** · 07-19-2012, 08:17 AM

Khan's entire approach to fighting needs to change, not just his trainer, although that could definitely help.

**Chemolina** · 07-19-2012, 10:47 AM

Whitaker may become a great trainer in the future but he probably needs to train fighters with a similar mentality as him. Whitaker was a boxer and defensive specialist. Khan has been doing a Pacquiao imitation the last few years and has been doing more brawling than boxing. Khan definitely needs a trainer that can teach a guy to be a boxer-puncher. I think you see some success with Judah because the sweetpea style is better suited to Judah.

**T-97** · 07-19-2012, 10:59 AM

It would take a lot of work to get Khan's defence up to scratch, especially the sort of defence that Pea would probably try to teach him. That's all cool when you usually fight a bit like that, or you're only just starting out... but at this level, with his chin, it'd be dangerous to start experimenting too fast.

He just needs to start with working on real basics, like keepings his hands up and chin tucked in. That's what's got him KO'd twice so far, very simple mistakes, easy to correct... or so you'd think

**Ring Leader** · 07-19-2012, 11:02 AM

Jeff Mayweather could do wonders with Khan. Khan already has a good offense but should work with one of the Mayweather's

Could Pernell Whittaker Improve Khan's Defense?