Time for a MYTHBUSTER on Amir Khan.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Disclaimer: I think Khan loses this fight after testing Crawford, very similar to Crawford/Gamboa.

Amir Khan gets a LOT of flack on this forum in particular but also elsewhere, and there's this illusion of a glass chin because he's been dropped frequently. It's about time to put some things to rest for good.

MYTH 1: Khan has a glass jaw and keeps getting knocked out.

Amir Khan has been knocked out a grand total of 3 times as a pro - and one of those was Canelo and I thus disqualify it because it was a weight mismatch by far. So that means Khan has been, given equal fighter, knocked out 2 times - Prescott and Swift, and Swift was a TKO, not a spark cold. Ref stoppage by Kenny Bayless if I recall.

Brandon Rios has the EXACT SAME number of knockout losses - two stoppages. Nobody would classify him as a glass jaw.

Ricky Hatton has 3 knockout losses - TKO, KO and KO. Nobody would classify him as a glass jaw.

Zab Judah: 3 knockout losses. Nobody would classify him as a glass jaw.

Erik Morales: 4 knockout losses.

Paulie Malignaggi: 5 knockout losses.

Manny Pacquiao: 3 knockout losses.


DEBUNKED. Amir Khan hasn't been knocked out any more than any other fighter in the same division/class.


MYTH 2: Amir Khan gets dropped more than any other fighter.

In 2016 HBO recorded Khan as having been officially dropped a total of 8 times: Drizlane, Limmond, Gomez, Prescott 2x, Garcia 2x, and Diaz. Since then he fought Vargas who dropped him, so 9 drops.

There is no known source of data that tells you how many times fighters got dropped, so I'll go with one I know close.

According to research, Marquez has been dropped a total of 8-9 times - Manny 4-5x, Katsidis, Barrera, Mayweather and Norwood. Manny I'm not sure, because he fought Manny so many damn times, whether the count is really 4 or 5. But it doesn't matter.

DEBUNKED. Greater fighters have been dropped an equal or close to equal number of times in their career.


The thing is, people are reacting to HOW he gets knocked out. It's always the same; he gets clipped on the side of the neck, body locks up, does a windmill and falls like a sack of sand, laying there for an uncomfortable number of seconds. Or the visual of him cued up in the corner after Prescott slept him. You're reacting to the visual, NOT the numbers.

By the numbers, Amir Khan is as solid as any other fighter of equal level.

Now, the facts:

• Amir Khan tends to get sloppy when he sees that he's dominating, and drops his hand when he throws, which is what gets him caught.
• Amir is a straight up sucker for feints, which gets him caught.
• Amir Khan doesn't fear or respect the power of his opponent, but doesn't have anywhere near the granite that Mayweather has to be able to withstand shots that way.
• Amir Khan is markedly faster than most any other fighter in the division, bar none, with near perfect timing and accuracy.
• Amir Khan has to catch you off a mistake in order to win. He's not going to beat you pair-for-pair.
• Amir Khan's critical weakness isn't chin. It's that he gets goaded into making a mistake and either gets caught (Canelo) or outboxed (Algieri). Skilled boxers are his Kryptonite because they're more likely to set him up with something.

The only time Terence Crawford ever had trouble was with the one guy who at the time was faster than him - Yuriorkis Gamboa - who got off the right shot at the right time when Crawford was engaging, but Gamboa didn't have the skill to do anything about it or followup on it. ("LACK OF FUNDAMENTALS!!!" -- Teddy Atlas)

Crawford also doesn't have one-punch knockout power. He's an accumulation striker who overwhelms you with activity the moment he's got you vulnerable after setting you up. Postol is the only opponent who didn't fall for the bait, but he had nothing else to fall back on.


So basically, you've got a guy in Amir Khan who only gets in trouble when he gets goaded into making a mistake (which is Crawford's signature tactic), going against a guy in Terence Crawford who only ever had trouble with a guy who had faster hands than him (which is Amir Khan's signature tactic).

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the recipe for a solid fight for however long it lasts. Bow down to Bob Arum.

[Prince Madison]

Come on man his chin sucks. Before every fight we get people saying his chin isnt that bad then he either gets wobbled or dropped or knocked out.Marquez was susceptible to flash knockdowns but his chin was nothing like khans.

[pillowfists98]

Khan doesn't have a great chin but that isn't why he's not a great fighter. He just has poor fight IQ. Khan looks elite when he's fighting on the outside and using his hand speed but he sometimes leaves his chin up and throws those 4-5 punch combinations that leave him open to being countered. Khan will win rounds against Crawford, I don't doubt that, but he will not win the fight.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Come on man his chin sucks. Before every fight we get people saying his chin isnt that bad then he either gets wobbled or dropped or knocked out.Marquez was susceptible to flash knockdowns but his chin was nothing like khans.

Flash?

Floyd Mayweather is KNOWN for having hand problems and limited power at 147, yet he managed to put Marquez on his ass. That was no flash.

All but one of Manny's specials were solid and not flash.

Norwood was not flash.

What the hell are you talking about?

[Combat Talk Radio]

Khan doesn't have a great chin but that isn't why he's not a great fighter. He just has poor fight IQ. Khan looks elite when he's fighting on the outside and using his hand speed but he sometimes leaves his chin up and throws those 4-5 punch combinations that leave him open to being countered. Khan will win rounds against Crawford, I don't doubt that, but he will not win the fight.

That's exactly what I'm saying.

Amir Khan's critical weakness isn't chin. It's that he gets goaded into making a mistake and either gets caught (Canelo) or outboxed (Algieri). Skilled boxers are his Kryptonite because they're more likely to set him up with something.

[pillowfists98]

Come on man his chin sucks. Before every fight we get people saying his chin isnt that bad then he either gets wobbled or dropped or knocked out.Marquez was susceptible to flash knockdowns but his chin was nothing like khans.

Marquez had great recuperative powers but he was hurt many times. That left hook he took against Katsidis was definitely no flash knockdown. He was hurt against Juan Diaz too even though he didn't go down.

[sunny31]

I think he has a susceptible chin, at WORLD level. But his problem is the combination of his chin and the types of shots he gets hit with.

He gets hit with silly shots, and you're never going to take that away from him because he needs his legs to generate power on his punches, so he's always going to be a guy who is most effective when he's jumping in and out of range, that style presents danger to his opponent but also to himself. He also has major lapses of concentration...these things combined lead him to getting hit with silly shots.

I think Crawford will not have things his own way, but eventually he will start landing shots that Khan doesn't see, similar to Postol. Those are the shots that are going to hurt and wobble Khan. Once that happens, it's the beginning of the end. Khan might last a round or 2 because he has a massive heart but he'll get stopped one way or another. I can see the towel coming in

[lolpz]

If the Khan who fought Canelo shows up under Virgil Hunter, he's got a good chance at an upset or at least a close competitive fight.

I'm not counting him out, lets see.

[Scipio2009]

Disclaimer: I think Khan loses this fight after testing Crawford, very similar to Crawford/Gamboa.

Amir Khan gets a LOT of flack on this forum in particular but also elsewhere, and there's this illusion of a glass chin because he's been dropped frequently. It's about time to put some things to rest for good.

MYTH 1: Khan has a glass jaw and keeps getting knocked out.

Amir Khan has been knocked out a grand total of 3 times as a pro - and one of those was Canelo and I thus disqualify it because it was a weight mismatch by far. So that means Khan has been, given equal fighter, knocked out 2 times - Prescott and Swift, and Swift was a TKO, not a spark cold. Ref stoppage by Kenny Bayless if I recall.

Brandon Rios has the EXACT SAME number of knockout losses - two stoppages. Nobody would classify him as a glass jaw.

Ricky Hatton has 3 knockout losses - TKO, KO and KO. Nobody would classify him as a glass jaw.

Zab Judah: 3 knockout losses. Nobody would classify him as a glass jaw.

Erik Morales: 4 knockout losses.

Paulie Malignaggi: 5 knockout losses.

Manny Pacquiao: 3 knockout losses.


DEBUNKED. Amir Khan hasn't been knocked out any more than any other fighter in the same division/class.


MYTH 2: Amir Khan gets dropped more than any other fighter.

In 2016 HBO recorded Khan as having been officially dropped a total of 8 times: Drizlane, Limmond, Gomez, Prescott 2x, Garcia 2x, and Diaz. Since then he fought Vargas who dropped him, so 9 drops.

There is no known source of data that tells you how many times fighters got dropped, so I'll go with one I know close.

According to research, Marquez has been dropped a total of 8-9 times - Manny 4-5x, Katsidis, Barrera, Mayweather and Norwood. Manny I'm not sure, because he fought Manny so many damn times, whether the count is really 4 or 5. But it doesn't matter.

DEBUNKED. Greater fighters have been dropped an equal or close to equal number of times in their career.


The thing is, people are reacting to HOW he gets knocked out. It's always the same; he gets clipped on the side of the neck, body locks up, does a windmill and falls like a sack of sand, laying there for an uncomfortable number of seconds. Or the visual of him cued up in the corner after Prescott slept him. You're reacting to the visual, NOT the numbers.

By the numbers, Amir Khan is as solid as any other fighter of equal level.

Now, the facts:

• Amir Khan tends to get sloppy when he sees that he's dominating, and drops his hand when he throws, which is what gets him caught.
• Amir is a straight up sucker for feints, which gets him caught.
• Amir Khan doesn't fear or respect the power of his opponent, but doesn't have anywhere near the granite that Mayweather has to be able to withstand shots that way.
• Amir Khan is markedly faster than most any other fighter in the division, bar none, with near perfect timing and accuracy.
• Amir Khan has to catch you off a mistake in order to win. He's not going to beat you pair-for-pair.
• Amir Khan's critical weakness isn't chin. It's that he gets goaded into making a mistake and either gets caught (Canelo) or outboxed (Algieri). Skilled boxers are his Kryptonite because they're more likely to set him up with something.

The only time Terence Crawford ever had trouble was with the one guy who at the time was faster than him - Yuriorkis Gamboa - who got off the right shot at the right time when Crawford was engaging, but Gamboa didn't have the skill to do anything about it or followup on it. ("LACK OF FUNDAMENTALS!!!" -- Teddy Atlas)

Crawford also doesn't have one-punch knockout power. He's an accumulation striker who overwhelms you with activity the moment he's got you vulnerable after setting you up. Postol is the only opponent who didn't fall for the bait, but he had nothing else to fall back on.


So basically, you've got a guy in Amir Khan who only gets in trouble when he gets goaded into making a mistake (which is Crawford's signature tactic), going against a guy in Terence Crawford who only ever had trouble with a guy who had faster hands than him (which is Amir Khan's signature tactic).

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the recipe for a solid fight for however long it lasts. Bow down to Bob Arum.

The simplest of points that you've missed is how shattered he looks whenever he gets hit clean, by anyone.

Won't even waste the time debunking the rest of the junk, tbh.

I don't have the timestamp, but it was in the Julio Diaz fight, Khan was throwing his double jab, Diaz threw a blind punch in between the double that landed, and Khan reacted as if he got hit with a haymaker that almost put him out.

That reality doesn't just go away

[Fuzzy-101]

If the Khan who fought Canelo shows up under Virgil Hunter, he's got a good chance at an upset or at least a close competitive fight.

I'm not counting him out, lets see.

Yeh I agree, I believe khan has more of a chance of an upset as people believe. Seeing the condition he is in right now he looks similar to that of when he fought Alexander and collazzo which is what we want