Originally Posted by Jimmy_McNulty:
“Algieri fought a good fight. Instead of being a sitting duck to speed like he was with Pacquaio, he came forward and pressured Khan, putting him on the back foot. I'd love to see the statistics for how many times he landed his right hand on Khan, he was landing at will at times.
Khan's performance wasn't very good. Adequate. Mayweather wins every round vs Khan. Just sit behind the straight right all night. Easy work. Pacquiao probably KO's him, with or without a damaged right shoulder.”
I think Khan's biggest problem is that the punching power that he had and was on display at the Olympics has never fully gone/transferred with him as a professional boxer. He seemed to have it to a certain extent as a Lightweight in the pro's but still not quite as consistent as it was in the Olympics. For that reason alone, I think Amir moving up in weight was a mistake as most boxers who move up in weight don't seem to carry their punching power with them and those that do imo are suspect as to whether or not they have used performance enhancing drugs.
I also think that Amir's defence is too slack. Early on in his professional career he had a very good tight defence and had a good approach and that was under Oliver Harrison as his trainer and while his defence was good, I thought his general repertoire was too basic which is why I wanted Amir back then to change trainers but now I'm begining to think that maybe I got that wrong! Yes Virgil Hunter in general is a much better trainer but Amir's defence is still too slack and too often too.
I think Khan needs to work on both getting more power but without slowing his speed down and work on tightening his defence which he will need in general but especially against Mayweather becuase of how Mayweather fights in moving back and doing quick counters. Mayweather imo tends to win fights/round imo on his reputation but so to does Amir quite often as well and on the whole Amir and Mayweather are very similar type of fighters with similar fight styles.
I think it is going to be very difficult for Amir to be able to beat Floyd Mayweather using the same style of stick and move, though that is Amir's best chance. Onne difference between their styles is that Amir tends to move forward more and then backs off where Mayweather is more about moving back and doing very quick counters but Mayweather has slowed down a lot, that was obvious in his fight with Pacquiao imo.
I think that whether or not Amir gets his fight with Mayweather, that he should consider moving back down in weight do to Light Welterweight and if he can do it, maybe go back down to Lightweight. A lot of people will say he won't be able to or its the wrong move but I remember Chris Eubank always struggled at making the Super Middleweight weight limit but he was very big at the weight and powerful and that is what Amir Khan needs, - power! If he can make the weights and get his power back then it will be worth it for Amir to move back down in weight.
Finally I think Amir Khan's next fight needs to be in November or October at the earliest. If he gets the fight with Mayweather and agrees to a September date, it will not be long enough time for him to get fully fit/up for the fight with Amir fasting in July.