|
WHAT CAN AMIR KHAN DO TO REBUILD HIS CAREER?
By Tommy Canez
Amir Khan went into this past Saturday's fight against Danny Garcia with the hope of delivering a masterful performance which would catapult him into boxing's next great tier of fighters. Instead, he was knocked out in the 4th round, leaving a huge question mark over his career. Amir Khan has been viewed as a fighter with a glass jaw ever since he was knocked out in his 19th professional fight against Breidis Prescott. Danny Garcia reaffirmed that notion this past Saturday when he knocked Khan out senseless. But what, if anything, can Amir Khan do to rebuild his career ?
STRENGTHEN HIS JAW How can someone strengthen their jaw ? The great Oscar De La Hoya once said that he used to bite down so hard into his mouthpiece when he prepared to take a punch, that he became famous for biting right through is mouthpieces. He claimed that it helped him take punches better. Could this possibly help Khan? It wouldn't hurt for him to try. It sure did seem to help Oscar who was never knocked out senseless throughout his career. Secondly, he could try to chew on tree bark like Jack Dempsey used to do. Jack Dempsey had a granite chin and it showed in his uncanny ability to take huge punches and still keep pressing forward. Third, he could attempt to build his neck to the size of Mike Tyson by doing an abundance of weighted neck exercises which may help absorb the shock of punches better.
CORRECT HIS DEFENSIVE FLAWS Anyone with a good boxing eye could see the obvious flaws in Khan's defense. He runs in throwing punches with his feet out of balance and at times leaving his hands down while moving into position to punch. Can Roach improve Khan's defensive flaws ? If Khan decides to stick with Roach and those defensive weaknesses are not corrected or improved in his next fight, it may be time for Khan to bring in a defensive minded trainer to his team. It could be a similar deal to what Manny Steward had with De La Hoya where Robert Alcazar and Steward split training responsibilties. HIRE A NEW TRAINER WHO CAN TEACH HIM DEFENSE Should Khan part ways with the great Freddie Roach? He will need to evaluate that possibility on some level. From here on out, Khan's future opponents will have a huge bulls eye target on his chin and they will be as attracted to his chin as bees are to honey. But who could possibly teach Khan defense ? A possibility would be Floyd Mayweather Sr who would do a hell of a job by teaching him how to hide his fragile chin behind his shoulder and also teach him how to roll punches. Can we imagine Khan fighting with the same Floyd Mayweather/ James Toney shoulder roll style? It would definitely be fun to watch and could save and extend his career if he can successfully implement that style.
ADOPT THE MAYWEATHER JR PHILOSOPHY Khan was doing a great job of adopting the Floyd Mayweather philosophy by fighting fighters who were past their prime such as Barerra and Judah while also mixing in fighters who had limited abilities such as Marcos Maidana, Paulie Malignaggi, and Paul Mccloskey. That was until he dared to be too great by fighting Lamont Peterson in Peterson's hometown. He then went on to face the hungry, tough, and great counter punching Danny Garcia. The result is that he is 0-2 in his last 2 fights. If he goes back to fully implementing the Mayweather Jr philosophy, he can extend his career and look good doing it, providing his chin can hold up.
Send questions and comments to: TommyJCanez@hotmail.com
|