Big Up - Amir Khan

[Anzi]

Let's temper the outpouring of admiration a little, many of those former world champs were rather a long way past their prime when Khan fought them, and whilst he has been a 2 time belt holder, at no point has he been considered the best fighter in any division, sometimes bald figures like that flatter to deceive.

Are you sure that he wasn't considered the No. 1 at light welterweight just after Bradley moved up?

He had a claim at least.

Ok, let's say it was never unequivocal. A claim perhaps, but only briefly.

By contrast, as overrated as some may think Hatton is (I don't rate Hatton all that highly, he's certainly not an ATG) - he was definitely the man at 140 for a while. In fact, he remained the man until he moved up to 147.

jamesmcdonnell you are waffling, just admit when you are wrong, instead of going round the estate looking for a way out.

[Anzi]

khan is a busted flush. was like harrison, wildly overrated. cant take a punch, that is why his resume is full of non punchers(kotelnik, malignaggi etc) or old guys way past their best(judah, barrerra etc. anytime he fought a live puncher, he got spanked. his best wins are maidana and kotelnok...hardly giants who will be remembered in years to come. was very effectively marketed, which is why five years after he was relevant, hes still generating all this attention, wheras guys like crolla, who is as much a world champ as khan ever was, gets virtually nothing.

Abysmal post.

True, like Maidana.

[Anzi]

khan is a busted flush. was like harrison, wildly overrated. cant take a punch, that is why his resume is full of non punchers(kotelnik, malignaggi etc) or old guys way past their best(judah, barrerra etc. anytime he fought a live puncher, he got spanked. his best wins are maidana and kotelnok...hardly giants who will be remembered in years to come. was very effectively marketed, which is why five years after he was relevant, hes still generating all this attention, wheras guys like crolla, who is as much a world champ as khan ever was, gets virtually nothing.

Abysmal post.

True, like Maidana.

Some times hatred gets in the way of Judgement, how can he compare Crolla to Khan ?

[Boxerbeetle]

Interesting post, Horse. Despite enjoying watching Khan, I can't see a win he has had that is better than Brook's Porter win, although some (like Maidana) come close. If he is a level above and a far greater fighter, can he prove it? I'm about 50:50 on who would win, to be honest.

Greatness is not just about a fighter's single best win though.

Khan's (black) and Brook's (red) best 10 results in order:

Marcos Maidana
Shawn Porter
Andriy Kotelnik
Zab Judah
Paulie Malignaggi
Devon Alexander
Luis Collazo
Lamont Peterson (Lost)
Chris Algieri
Julio Diaz

Vyacheslav Senchenko
Rafal Jackiewicz
Frankie Gavin
Carson Jones I
Matthew Hatton
Ionut Dan Ion
Lovemore Ndou
Paul McCloskey
Michael Jennings
Carson Jones II


That's my rough order of their best results ranked against each other and Khan dominates.

I agree with this. Khan's resume is on another level to Brook's, which is frankly embarrassing.

[magwitch]

Khan is a level above Brook.

Khan is a far greater fighter than Brook.

Many others? That’s biased garbage. Khan’s wiped the floor with more good fighters than have wiped the floor with him.....

Is that Swift Garcia kid still unbeaten? That’s lasted a long time if so (his gift against Peterson notwithstanding).

I’m a bit surprised at all this meddling that’s going on with the WBC title. How can a man weigh in at 155 and fight for the 160 belt? Isn’t that screwing another 160lb man out of work, somewhere?

It would seem that Golovkin is the heavier guy than Canelo..... Never realised it. Thought they were the same.....if anything GGG looks smaller to me.

Garcia's still unbeaten somehow, but has been cleverly matched - since he beat Khan, he has beaten:

- an ancient Eric Morales
- a pretty old Zab Judah
- Lucas Matthyse - clearly a good win
- Mauricio Herrera, which most observers thought he'd lost
- Rod Salka, which was a disgraceful mismatch
- Lamont Peterson, which many again though he'd lost
- a past-it Paulie Malignaggi
- Roberto Guerrero for the WBC title, who has had a few decent wins at welter, but won his first world title at feather and is not, in my view, a full-blown 147-pounder.

So if you are Khan, sitting as number 1 contender to Garcia, you'd probably look at that and not be wildly intimidated, even allowing for Khan's own shortcomings. Garcia is definitely a winnable fight for Khan, but as last time showed, it is also a very losable fight - both are past their peak and both have flaws, so who knows?

Thanks for the run down there, appreciate it

Garcia can set traps. Little set pieces if you will... He’s a hooker and he’s got over half an hour to do on Khan something that he practices day in day out. It’s not a fight I’d eagerly anticipate as a Khan fan.

Khan doesn’t seem to have the equalizer. You maraud a guy at domestic level at the ref stops it.....on the world scene, you swarm a guy and wild, desperate bombs come flying your way.......like a wild animal really, fighting on instinct.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Are you sure that he wasn't considered the No. 1 at light welterweight just after Bradley moved up?

He had a claim at least.

Ok, let's say it was never unequivocal. A claim perhaps, but only briefly.

By contrast, as overrated as some may think Hatton is (I don't rate Hatton all that highly, he's certainly not an ATG) - he was definitely the man at 140 for a while. In fact, he remained the man until he moved up to 147.

jamesmcdonnell you are waffling, just admit when you are wrong, instead of going round the estate looking for a way out.

I have no problem admitting I am wrong, but in this case I am not. Khan may have had a brief claim to be the best 140 lb fighter in the world, but only when someone else moved up, and albeit only briefly.

Khan has NEVER been considered the dominant force in any division, simple as. If you think he has, then you're delusional.

[forcefraser]

Khan is what he is, a skilled boxer with a great PR team behind him. The lad can fight and has ballacks the size of melons, but the simple fact is he does`t have the chin or the power to beat the top guys.

He has acted like a proper tool in the past with his comments about certain things, but watching the build up to this Canelo fight I saw a different side to him. Obviously the money plays a massive part but I think this fight for him was about more than just money. The guy has been ridiculed over his chin and to a guy with a macho streak in him like Khan, that`s hard to take.

He get`s blown off for the two big fights he waited for and then to get in amongst the big names he takes on a suicide mission.

I normally shake things like that off and maybe it was the fact that I was coming down off a hard session by the time the fight started, but I was left properly gutted for him as he lay stretched out in front of the world, knowing that his dream was in tatters. Of course the money helps, but there was so much more on the line for him and it ended with a KO we we will see time and time again.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Khan is what he is, a skilled boxer with a great PR team behind him. The lad can fight and has ballacks the size of melons, but the simple fact is he does`t have the chin or the power to beat the top guys.

He has acted like a proper tool in the past with his comments about certain things, but watching the build up to this Canelo fight I saw a different side to him. Obviously the money plays a massive part but I think this fight for him was about more than just money. The guy has been ridiculed over his chin and to a guy with a macho streak in him like Khan, that`s hard to take.

He get`s blown off for the two big fights he waited for and then to get in amongst the big names he takes on a suicide mission.

I normally shake things like that off and maybe it was the fact that I was coming down off a hard session by the time the fight started, but I was left properly gutted for him as he lay stretched out in front of the world, knowing that his dream was in tatters. Of course the money helps, but there was so much more on the line for him and it ended with a KO we we will see time and time again.

He also lacks the defensive skills to protect that chin. Khan has speed, and decent boxing skills, certainly offensively, but he's just not quite got what it takes against the top boys. To be fair, the seeds were there when he was flattened by Limond and Prescott, the frailties were never going to go away. He's done well to get as far as he has.

[BigDoofus]

he was the best at light welter, when Bradley refused to unify against him and instead moved up in weight

Bradley moved up to get his "win" over Pacquiao 7 months after Khan lost his title to Peterson and a month before Khan got KO'd by Garcia. Bradley remained unbeaten defending his welter title for another 2 years whilst Khan fought Molina and Diaz.

So what, khan was the main man at the weight until he got beat.

Bradley was champion for longer "at the weight".
Khan lost to Peterson who Bradley beat easily.
Bradley moved up unbeaten to win a belt at welter which he kept for nearly 2 years, whilst Khan got knocked out brutally "at the weight".
The facts don't add up to your claim.

[BigDoofus]

Let's temper the outpouring of admiration a little, many of those former world champs were rather a long way past their prime when Khan fought them, and whilst he has been a 2 time belt holder, at no point has he been considered the best fighter in any division, sometimes bald figures like that flatter to deceive.

Are you sure that he wasn't considered the No. 1 at light welterweight just after Bradley moved up?

He had a claim at least.

A month after Bradley moved up Khan had lost to Peterson and got KO'd by Garcia.

[BigDoofus]

im a boxing fan. i think brook is the best weve got. he would certainly wipe the floor with khan. but then so have many others.

Khan is a level above Brook.

Khan is a far greater fighter than Brook.

This can't be proven as Khan won't get in the ring with him.
Khan chose to fight Chris Algieri a week before he could have boxed Brook at Wembley for approx. 5 times the money and a world title.

[littlepug]

will khan be missed when hes gone ? course he will he ticks most of the boxes when it comes to being a succesful tv (television not transvestite!) fighter, he did the best with the tools he was born with and has been a great servant to the game IMO

[Horse]

This can't be proven as Khan won't get in the ring with him.
Khan chose to fight Chris Algieri a week before he could have boxed Brook at Wembley for approx. 5 times the money and a world title.

Khan has proven his greatness far more than Brook.

Brook should stop leeching off Khan's name and build his own greatness up.

[lefty]

Let's temper the outpouring of admiration a little, many of those former world champs were rather a long way past their prime when Khan fought them, and whilst he has been a 2 time belt holder, at no point has he been considered the best fighter in any division, sometimes bald figures like that flatter to deceive.

Are you sure that he wasn't considered the No. 1 at light welterweight just after Bradley moved up?

He had a claim at least.

Ok, let's say it was never unequivocal. A claim perhaps, but only briefly.

By contrast, as overrated as some may think Hatton is (I don't rate Hatton all that highly, he's certainly not an ATG) - he was definitely the man at 140 for a while. In fact, he remained the man until he moved up to 147.

Who was operating at 140 when hatton was number 1 though? I mean once tszyu was out of the way.

[Counter-puncher]

Witter, Bradley, Alexander.....

[Stuarty]

This can't be proven as Khan won't get in the ring with him.
Khan chose to fight Chris Algieri a week before he could have boxed Brook at Wembley for approx. 5 times the money and a world title.

Khan has proven his greatness far more than Brook.

Brook should stop leeching off Khan's name and build his own greatness up.

Greatness

[Anzi]

Bradley moved up to get his "win" over Pacquiao 7 months after Khan lost his title to Peterson and a month before Khan got KO'd by Garcia. Bradley remained unbeaten defending his welter title for another 2 years whilst Khan fought Molina and Diaz.

So what, khan was the main man at the weight until he got beat.

Bradley was champion for longer "at the weight".
Khan lost to Peterson who Bradley beat easily.
Bradley moved up unbeaten to win a belt at welter which he kept for nearly 2 years, whilst Khan got knocked out brutally "at the weight".
The facts don't add up to your claim.

What are you on about ? his claim was that Khan was never the main man at a weight and he was when Bradley refused to fight him and instead moved up, you see when Bradley left the weight division, Khan was left has number one. Now if Bradley had fought Khan, the winner would have been number 1, some people just argue for the sake of it, while others let hatred cloud their judgement

[Horse]

Greatness

Rolling your eyes at greatness?

Such base behaviour.

[Stuarty]

Greatness

Rolling your eyes at greatness?

Such base behaviour.

You don't actually believe he is great. You are being sarcastic and you are bating. Good fighter. Very exciting to watch but sometimes for the wrong reasons. Great? Behave!

[Horse]

You don't actually believe he is great. You are being sarcastic and you are bating. Good fighter. Very exciting to watch but sometimes for the wrong reasons. Great? Behave!

Do you not consider him to be a top 100 British ATG?

[Stuarty]

You don't actually believe he is great. You are being sarcastic and you are bating. Good fighter. Very exciting to watch but sometimes for the wrong reasons. Great? Behave!

Do you not consider him to be a top 100 British ATG?

I've only been following boxing since the early 90s and I'm not much of a historian so I couldn't really comment on any ATG lists. I do however think the term 'great' is vastly overused nowadays though.

[Horse]

I've only been following boxing since the early 90s and I'm not much of a historian so I couldn't really comment on any ATG lists. I do however think the term 'great' is vastly overused nowadays though.

So you don't know enough to say that he isn't an ATG?

[Horse]

Witter, Bradley, Alexander.....

Cotto, Mayweather, Torres, Gatti, Kotelnik, Rees, Harris etc.

After winning the title in great fashion: Hatton was a fairly poor champion and didn't really take on many of the best contenders.

Ricky Hatton's lineal title run: Tszyu, Maussa, Urango, Castillo, Lazcano, Malignaggi & Pacquiao (lost).

[Stuarty]

I've only been following boxing since the early 90s and I'm not much of a historian so I couldn't really comment on any ATG lists. I do however think the term 'great' is vastly overused nowadays though.

So you don't know enough to say that he isn't an ATG?

I'm 32 years old. I've followed boxing most of my life and was a fairly decent amatuer. I know enough. Amir Khan is not a great no matter what way you try and spin it. I've enjoyed watching him and used to be a fan. I've spent good money and travelled to see him a few times. Very good fighter but not great. He should walk away now with his head held high and his bank balance bulging. He should stay clear of Brook because another KO like the weekend won't do him any good.

[Horse]

I'm 32 years old. I've followed boxing most of my life and was a fairly decent amatuer. I know enough. Amir Khan is not a great no matter what way you try and spin it. I've enjoyed watching him and used to be a fan. I've spent good money and travelled to see him a few times. Very good fighter but not great. He should walk away now with his head held high and his bank balance bulging. He should stay clear of Brook because another KO like the weekend won't do him any good.

Khan should not retire. He should have a warm up and then fight Garcia for the WBC title.

If he wins then he should deal with the pretender named Brook.

Khan is a British ATG. Even his haters don't claim that he doesn't belong in the top 100 British ATG rankings.