Amir “King” Khan Speeding Toward Greatness -- The Sweet Science

By David A. Avila, The Sweet Science

LOS ANGELES-Inside the world famous Wild Card Boxing gym a small gang of reporters gathered around the ring to see one of the new wave of pound for pound fighters, WBA junior welterweight titleholder Amir “King” Khan.

Most of the photographers brought their fast lens because if not, you run the risk of getting a series of blurs in most of the photo shots. Khan is that fast.

The lightning reflexes of Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) will be tested by IBF junior welterweight titleholder Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KOs) next week in Las Vegas. Once upon a time Judah had those same kinds of bullet-quick reflexes too. He still has some of that quickness but he absolutely has the same kind of staggering power.

There’s the rub.

Two major questions will be answered when Khan meets Judah in a unification bout: can Khan emerge as the heir apparent to Manny Pacquiao and can he win the big fight?

Judah thinks not.

“He’s got all the talent in the world to lose and come back,” said Judah. “That’s what happened to me and that’s what he is going to learn the hard way.”

Judah was referring to his unification title fight with Kostya Tszyu in November 2001. At the time Judah was undefeated and because of his overwhelming speed and power was the odds-maker’s favorite to dethrone the Russian. Instead, he was knocked out in two rounds.

“Listen I don’t like to compare fighters to my time but come July 23, he’s going to learn the lesson I learned,” said Judah, 33. “It’s no disrespect.”

Ever since Khan tasted defeat several years ago, the lean super quick 140-pounder has rebooted with the help of famed trainer Freddie Roach to rocket toward winning the world title and making four successive defenses.

Last December his bout with Argentina’s rough housing Marcos Maidana helped showcase not only his fighting skills but battling heart as well. It was voted “Fight of the Year” by numerous sports publications. This past April he returned to England where he shut out rival countryman Paul McCloskey for six rounds until an accidental head butt caused a bad cut on McCloskey. Khan won by decision against the southpaw.

“With McCloskey he didn’t want to fight. He was losing six nil. Then the head clash happened. I think I would have knocked him out. It seemed to me he just didn’t want to fight,” said Khan, age 24. “At the end of the day he was a southpaw and I’ll hopefully use that as an advantage against Zab Judah.”

When Judah met Khan during the opening press conference in Los Angeles he told the younger champion that he was going to lose his title.

“No disrespect, it’s what we do. We talk,” said Judah about the face to face verbal confrontation.

Khan says that Judah told him he would steal the title.

“Zab was saying he’s going to steal the belt but nothing about winning the belt. That shows what kind of champion he is, to want to steal the belt. I told him I’ll let my fists do the talking,” said Khan.

The British prizefighter has a checkered following: people either like him or loathe him in his native country. But that can be a very good thing. Look at the career of Oscar De La Hoya, who had the same type of relationship with boxing fans.

Ironically, it’s De La Hoya’s company, Golden Boy Promotions, that is guiding Khan’s career in America.

A win against Judah could advance him toward a junior welterweight reckoning with WBC junior welterweight titleholder Timothy Bradley. A meeting between those two would catapult the winner toward super-stardom. But first Khan must pass through Judah.

“The danger is understanding Judah’s southpaw stance. He doesn’t fight like a traditional southpaw. He attacks from the left side. The game plan has been really well done. We had a couple of fights to watch. The (Lucas) Matthysse fight gives us a pretty good blueprint,” said Roach, who is training Khan at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood. “We’re going to have to nullify that jab and take it away from him. I think Amir should win every round. Judah is tricky with his shoulder rolls, he’s a little bit Mayweather and a little bit Pernell Whitaker.”

Whitaker is now training Judah.

“Of course my fighter is going to win,” said the Hall of Fame boxer Whitaker. “But we can’t underestimate the opponent Khan.”

Judah predicts that Khan will learn a lesson that the New Yorker learned a decade ago in valuing his speed and power over experience.

“I don’t like comparing fighters to other fighters but he’s going to learn a valuable lesson,” predicts Judah. “It’s going to be a great fight.”

Khan predicts an overwhelming victory.

“My speed is going to beat him,” Khan said.

Fights on television

Fri. ESPN2, 6 p.m., Pawel Wolak (29-1) vs. Delvin Rodriguez (25-5-2).

Fr. Showtime, 8:05 p.m., Diego Magdaleno (19-0) vs. Alejandro Perez (15-2-1).

Fri. Telefutura, 11:30 p.m., Abner Cotto (10-0) vs. Carlos Claudio (10-6-3).

Source: thesweetscience.com

Pacquiao Fans Bash Floyd Mayweather’s Personal Life Because That’s All They Can Do -- NowBoxing

By Jamal Dicky, NowBoxing

This is just getting downright pathetic. All these Floyd Mayweather haters and Manny Pacquiao fans can only bash another man’s out of ring activities because that’s all they got! They got nothing else to use to attack this man, because they know deep down in their hearts that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the supreme boxer and possibly the greatest boxer to ever live! Nobody can even come close to Floyd when it comes to pure boxing mastery. And they know that Manny and his team are avoiding Floyd like the plague.

These latest reports of Mayweather burning money in a club by the biased media and all these bloggers trying to jump on anything Floyd does that is somewhat negative are the acts of real haters. These people have some real deep seeded issues. Deep inside they want to see Floyd Mayweather fail. I don’t know what their reasons are for hating on this man, but all I know is you can tell they have hate and jealousy in their hearts by the way they gang up on this man.

Manny Pacquiao is no saint! But why when he does something bad, like refusing the Olympic style drug testing or being seen with other women while his wife is at home, and signing multiple contracts and reneging on them later, and failing to show up to important US business meetings because he doesn’t feel like it, nobody writes about that stuff?

It’s 100 percent bias! Pacquiao shouldn’t be excusable at all! Floyd Mayweather deserves to have deals with NIKE, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, FORD, and other top sponsors because this man is very professional when it comes time to do business. If Floyd was signed with NIKE, he would be promoting his shoe non stop! Pacquiao doesn’t seem to think it’s important to show up to American business meetings, he rather film some Filipino game shows. This guy comes over to America and makes a living over here, yet, he doesn’t have the time to fly out here and be on time for important meetings and functions?

To me that is a slap in the face to America, the country that made him rich, the country that gave him opportunity to be able to spend those millions of dollars in the Philippines to help his people.

Mayweather is not perfect, but if you are going to write about all his negative things outside the ring, you must shine the same light on Pacquiao and all the negative things he does.

Stop focusing on Floyd Mayweather burning a hundred dollar bill, we don’t even know if that was a real $100, it could have been fake. Plus, Floyd probably feels real bad about that right now. It was a simple mistake and he was caught up in the moment. Let’s look at the positive things he does for a change, he donates to homeless charities, he paid for the late great Genaro Hernandez funeral, and he is proud to be an American. Don’t go believing people who say he isn’t, because he is, he just wishes that America would love him back.

Source: nowboxing.com