Amir Khan is learning many things from Manny Pacquiao. That is serves a fighter well never to disrespect his opponent. It is one of the graces of the devastating fighting machine that is Pacman. Khan now wants to model himself on the iconic Filipino fighter, and following his mores when up on the dais is a good move. Long may that continue.
The nearest the two fighters (Khan-Salita) came to insulting each other head-to-head here in Newcastle this week was talk of “guys with beards” not being able to fight (from Freddie Roach, half in jest ) and pointy chins (Khan’s, according to Salita) which made fighters chinny.
And, thankfully, religious undertones have been kept at bay. Click on video for Khan’s view on that…
Salita has some interesting points. “I’m from an old school gym and back in the day they didn’t really have tapes so people would go to fights and they would judge a fighter on his physical characteristics.The stereotype is that if a guy has a pointy chin it means he has a weak chin.
“Amir is a good fighter, but we will take care of business on Saturday. I should have fought Andreas Kotelnik, but Amir got that chance and that was the business of boxing.”
“It was frustrating for me and I believe I would have been World Champion because I would have beat him, but Amir got in front of me and took the title. Now I’ll take it off him. I’ve seen weaknesses and I will exploit them.”
Khan’s reply to his chin is now a stock one. “The dodgy chin is just something I have to live with because I’ve made some mistakes in my career. He says I’ve got a pointy chin, but if I knock him out on Saturday night does that mean he has got a weak chin? The only thing people have got on me is I’ve been knocked down before, but time will tell.”
It was then that Roach interjected. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” retorted Roach. “That’s why we have films nowadays and if he is going to start that then I’ve got to say, guys with beards can’t fight.”
“Dimitry is a very nice man, he is a gentleman. He came to my gym for a while. He’s a good fighter, a good solid boxer. He’s such a nice guy so it’s hard to say bad things about him, but guys with beards can’t fight.
“We have a great game plan. I can’t see it going the distance, Amir will knock him out at some point. I have a lot of confidence in Amir, he is looking great and he is punching better than ever.”
Salita was clearly unhappy with the comments. But will he be able to turn that into ammunition when the two meet. Unlikely.
Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk
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