If Khan loses........
-
WildWaylon
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 3223
- Joined: 02 Nov 2005, 13:35
If Khan loses........
OK most of you think he wont, but what if... - Will this be a huge setback, I think it could be and he MUST win in the rematch or be another Audley - If Earl wins by KO and IMO thats the only way he can, it will be ample proof Khan has no chin - With this scenario can Khan regain his credibility as a future world champion?
I dont think he is quite an Audley but a loss at this stage isnt the end of the world especially against a decent opponet. I think he can get away from a loss to earl or Thaxton at this stage in his career. He is a young lad with plenty to learn and plenty of promise too. He cannot be classified as amongst those having a granite jaw but he showed plenty of character coming back against Limond after being down..and that alone sets him apart from Audley..
-
classboxer
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 218
- Joined: 25 Oct 2007, 09:34
-
Spud
- Heavyweight
Re: If Khan loses........
If he loses - he can wave goodbye to world title belts - a loss would be as disastrous as Audley's losses!!!WildWaylon wrote:OK most of you think he wont, but what if... - Will this be a huge setback, I think it could be and he MUST win in the rematch or be another Audley - If Earl wins by KO and IMO thats the only way he can, it will be ample proof Khan has no chin - With this scenario can Khan regain his credibility as a future world champion?
-
Spud
- Heavyweight
What I mean is he is willing to take on people who at the current point in the trajectory he is taking are challengingSpud wrote:B*llocks!!!josh fg wrote:Wouldn't be disasterouse, he is young and it shows he has been putting himself up against the best.
with the greatest respect to Graham Earl - he is certainly not the best.
If he loses - and I've placed a bet that he will - he might come back and win a re-match, but it would only be a matter of time before he was exposed again. And I would bet that would be before he reached the truly world class level. I just don't see this future world-beater so many see. I see a kid with fast hands, decent power at the level he's at, but a porous defense, a very dodgy chin and a style which still belongs in the amateurs despite a dozen pro fights. Will he ever defeat or even be competitive with the likes of Juan Diaz or future lightweights such as Pac, Guzman, Linares (only at 126 but will soon move through a few divisions)? IMO, not a chance.
Part of me doesn't think a defeat now would be an awful thing cos it'd teach him not to leave his fornicating chin out to dry (you have no idea how many times I have screamed at the television about that) however a kid with good power and fast hands is close to the potential you need to be a world beater one day. We shall see.chesh wrote:If he loses - and I've placed a bet that he will - he might come back and win a re-match, but it would only be a matter of time before he was exposed again. And I would bet that would be before he reached the truly world class level. I just don't see this future world-beater so many see. I see a kid with fast hands, decent power at the level he's at, but a porous defense, a very dodgy chin and a style which still belongs in the amateurs despite a dozen pro fights. Will he ever defeat or even be competitive with the likes of Juan Diaz or future lightweights such as Pac, Guzman, Linares (only at 126 but will soon move through a few divisions)? IMO, not a chance.
-
Spud
- Heavyweight
-
SticknMove
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 5987
- Joined: 04 Aug 2006, 09:02
Exactly josh. No thought for an up and coming prospect, only that he has too much publicity and has a close knit family unit therfore they need a bit of schardenfraude (sp) to glee at and take amusement from. Absolute joke.josh fg wrote:where does the annomosity toward Khan's family come from when have they done anything to piss anyone off. Seem like a nice close family to me. I have no problem with them or him he is a nice lad, would like to see him tidy up his form but appart from that no problem.
-
whatashambles
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 667
- Joined: 14 Nov 2006, 13:30
I think a defeat could help him in the way it has helped David Haye. If he was to lose he can learn from it, improve his defence. Moreover he won't need to rush into a world title fight. He was on the radio the other day saying how he wanted to win a world title this year. He's only 21, what's the rush. Look at Vargas, winning a title so early has perhaps hurt him in the long run.
As Graham Earl launches into another Normandy Landing, you wonder how many battles one soldier of fortune can survive. The stumpy Luton fighter (and Luton is a battleground itself) is addicted to winning the hard way, so it came as no surprise when his loss to Michael "Rocky" Katsidis 10 months ago was a particularly brutal one. Graham wins the hard way; he loses the hard way.
Earl was dumped three times by the Aussie powerhouse at Wembley last February but dragged himself up each time and found a big right to drop Katsidis back in a momentous round two - just after his corner had thrown in the towel (a gesture of surrender referees do NOT have to accept, and sprightly Micky Vann tossed the towel into the crowd). And for the most part it was Katsidis dishing out punishment. Severe punishment. Earl's corner finally convinced the ref to accept their retirement at the end of the fifth, although Earl wanted no part of it and shed men in disgust afterwards (notably trainer Johnny Eames, for the little-known Jimmy Turner).
Soldiers die on the battlefield, not in the trenches.
Graham hasn't fought since; consequently, he goes into this a big betting outsider. Khan is the birthday boy on the night (21), the boy growing into the man, the man who showed he was all fighter against Willie Limond, the fighter in his own fighting arena.
Earl, meanwhile, is nothing if not battle-worn.
Yuri Romanov, the current European lightweight champ, had destroyed a host of British fighters when Earl walked into his biggest punches last year and ground out a 12-round decision - he outwilled the feared Belarussian.
Steve Murray, the Harlow Hammer, was a prodigious puncher who virtually decapitated opponents until Earl pushed him back and banged out two thrilling stoppages - he beat Murray at his own game.
Bobby Vanzie, the British champ from Bradford, had never lost to a British opponent, but Earl marched through his early onslaughts and kept on coming to snatch a decision - he drew the viper's venom.
There were other miracles.
Earl came from a mile behind to stop Hartlepool's Kevin Bennett in the ninth round of another unforgettable fight, survived a badly busted thumb to edge out Londoner Jon Honney, looked desperately lucky to get the nod over Vanzie in a rematch and barely outscored Argentina's prickly Angel Ramirez in a bloody and gruelling 12-rounder at York Hall two fights ago - Ramirez couldn't miss him at times. He possesses "a defence that can leave his fans hiding behind their sofas." (Iain Axon.)
Then came the savage Katsidis beating.
But the fact remains, Earl has lost only to clever Scot Ricky Burns, who outscored him in an eight-rounder in 2005, and the world class Katsidis as a pro. OK, Katsidis outgunned him but Earl concedes a classic to a monster and suddenly he's damaged goods, 'shot', a 'gimmee'. It may not pan out that way.
You could argue he is Europe's No. 1 lightweight, given his win over Romanov (non-title) - just as you could argue Khan's Commonwealth belt is still his. Earl relinquished the belt he won from Bennett. Glasgow joiner Limond scooped it up with a decision over Ghana's Kpapko Allotey at a soulless Kelvin Hall last year and then smashed Khan to the canvas in his first defence in London in the summer, before Khan, obviously close to defeat, rallied spectacularly and smashed Limond to the floor in return, and the Scot retired on his stool at the end of the eighth, his face a bloody mess, his eardrum perforated for the umpteenth time.
But Earl never lost the belt in the ring.
The 29-year-old always said he wanted to take the conventional route to world level. He won the British and Commonwealth titles and was 12 days from challenging then European lightweight champion Juan Carlos Diaz Melero last year at Crystal Palace, when the Spaniard cried injury. Earl does hold that hot decision over current holder Romanov (who flattened Melero for the title) and did indeed make it to world level against unbeaten Katsidis, but now it's back to the domestic front. The kids.
Mmmm. A nine-fight Burns showed Earl (a demotivated Earl) could be outsped, outboxed and outpointed.
So those with no fear can make a mockery of experience (and smarmy football pundits), and Khan was all of 10 when Earl turned pro in 1997. The Bolton boy showed he had grown from the Limond struggle with an emphatic four-round stoppage of Stoke's outgunned Scott Lawton in the first defence of his Commonwealth title in Nottingham two months ago, a nice little performance and warm-up. Khan used his handspeed to pick off Lawton, who had gone seven rounds with reigning British lightweight champion Jon Thaxton, before forcing the stoppage with a dozen unanswered punches, including five uppercuts. There was more composure to the champion's work and he seemed to be sitting down more on his punches. But the fight was too one-sided to judge if his defence had improved in the wake of Limond. As for his chin, Khan was facing a notorious light-hitter (only four stoppage wins) - again, impossible to judge. Enter Earl.
Solid and strong and with the grit and stamina to plough through the kind of punches Lawton couldn't handle, Earl will look to test 14-fight Khan in every department. The challenger can whack a bit and is seen as a better fighter than the brave and educated Limond, which makes it doubly interesting. Khan went down in his first 10-rounder (against Frenchman Rachid Drilzane) and first 12-rounder (against Limond).
The last thing they lose is their punch.
In terms of style, Graham rumbles forward behind a good jab and dishes it out with short hooks to head and body. He has a penchant for outlasting opponents - gone eight rounds or more 11 times in his career to date (Khan, just twice). But he struggles with quick counterpunchers in the Khan mould - think of the lanky and tricky Burns, slippery Vanzie or classy Bennett (who floored and nearly stopped him) - and has been out since Katsidis 10 months ago.
On top of everything, he will be rusty.
So the scene is set, as boxer meets fighter, youth meets experience, the man on the way up meets the man at Last Chance Saloon, glitter meets grit. Young, flashy and unbeaten, Khan talks of "retiring" Earl and we can expect him to come out blazing tonight, given Earl's notorious slow start. But if Graham gets through the early stages (and has something left), his experience could tell. Make no mistake, he is the best opponent Khan has faced as a pro. An upset is not out of the question.
But I have a feeling Earl has gone to the well too often. The bigger, sharper, faster, fresher, better-boxing Khan, on home turf, on his birthday, comes through.
Earl was dumped three times by the Aussie powerhouse at Wembley last February but dragged himself up each time and found a big right to drop Katsidis back in a momentous round two - just after his corner had thrown in the towel (a gesture of surrender referees do NOT have to accept, and sprightly Micky Vann tossed the towel into the crowd). And for the most part it was Katsidis dishing out punishment. Severe punishment. Earl's corner finally convinced the ref to accept their retirement at the end of the fifth, although Earl wanted no part of it and shed men in disgust afterwards (notably trainer Johnny Eames, for the little-known Jimmy Turner).
Soldiers die on the battlefield, not in the trenches.
Graham hasn't fought since; consequently, he goes into this a big betting outsider. Khan is the birthday boy on the night (21), the boy growing into the man, the man who showed he was all fighter against Willie Limond, the fighter in his own fighting arena.
Earl, meanwhile, is nothing if not battle-worn.
Yuri Romanov, the current European lightweight champ, had destroyed a host of British fighters when Earl walked into his biggest punches last year and ground out a 12-round decision - he outwilled the feared Belarussian.
Steve Murray, the Harlow Hammer, was a prodigious puncher who virtually decapitated opponents until Earl pushed him back and banged out two thrilling stoppages - he beat Murray at his own game.
Bobby Vanzie, the British champ from Bradford, had never lost to a British opponent, but Earl marched through his early onslaughts and kept on coming to snatch a decision - he drew the viper's venom.
There were other miracles.
Earl came from a mile behind to stop Hartlepool's Kevin Bennett in the ninth round of another unforgettable fight, survived a badly busted thumb to edge out Londoner Jon Honney, looked desperately lucky to get the nod over Vanzie in a rematch and barely outscored Argentina's prickly Angel Ramirez in a bloody and gruelling 12-rounder at York Hall two fights ago - Ramirez couldn't miss him at times. He possesses "a defence that can leave his fans hiding behind their sofas." (Iain Axon.)
Then came the savage Katsidis beating.
But the fact remains, Earl has lost only to clever Scot Ricky Burns, who outscored him in an eight-rounder in 2005, and the world class Katsidis as a pro. OK, Katsidis outgunned him but Earl concedes a classic to a monster and suddenly he's damaged goods, 'shot', a 'gimmee'. It may not pan out that way.
You could argue he is Europe's No. 1 lightweight, given his win over Romanov (non-title) - just as you could argue Khan's Commonwealth belt is still his. Earl relinquished the belt he won from Bennett. Glasgow joiner Limond scooped it up with a decision over Ghana's Kpapko Allotey at a soulless Kelvin Hall last year and then smashed Khan to the canvas in his first defence in London in the summer, before Khan, obviously close to defeat, rallied spectacularly and smashed Limond to the floor in return, and the Scot retired on his stool at the end of the eighth, his face a bloody mess, his eardrum perforated for the umpteenth time.
But Earl never lost the belt in the ring.
The 29-year-old always said he wanted to take the conventional route to world level. He won the British and Commonwealth titles and was 12 days from challenging then European lightweight champion Juan Carlos Diaz Melero last year at Crystal Palace, when the Spaniard cried injury. Earl does hold that hot decision over current holder Romanov (who flattened Melero for the title) and did indeed make it to world level against unbeaten Katsidis, but now it's back to the domestic front. The kids.
Mmmm. A nine-fight Burns showed Earl (a demotivated Earl) could be outsped, outboxed and outpointed.
So those with no fear can make a mockery of experience (and smarmy football pundits), and Khan was all of 10 when Earl turned pro in 1997. The Bolton boy showed he had grown from the Limond struggle with an emphatic four-round stoppage of Stoke's outgunned Scott Lawton in the first defence of his Commonwealth title in Nottingham two months ago, a nice little performance and warm-up. Khan used his handspeed to pick off Lawton, who had gone seven rounds with reigning British lightweight champion Jon Thaxton, before forcing the stoppage with a dozen unanswered punches, including five uppercuts. There was more composure to the champion's work and he seemed to be sitting down more on his punches. But the fight was too one-sided to judge if his defence had improved in the wake of Limond. As for his chin, Khan was facing a notorious light-hitter (only four stoppage wins) - again, impossible to judge. Enter Earl.
Solid and strong and with the grit and stamina to plough through the kind of punches Lawton couldn't handle, Earl will look to test 14-fight Khan in every department. The challenger can whack a bit and is seen as a better fighter than the brave and educated Limond, which makes it doubly interesting. Khan went down in his first 10-rounder (against Frenchman Rachid Drilzane) and first 12-rounder (against Limond).
The last thing they lose is their punch.
In terms of style, Graham rumbles forward behind a good jab and dishes it out with short hooks to head and body. He has a penchant for outlasting opponents - gone eight rounds or more 11 times in his career to date (Khan, just twice). But he struggles with quick counterpunchers in the Khan mould - think of the lanky and tricky Burns, slippery Vanzie or classy Bennett (who floored and nearly stopped him) - and has been out since Katsidis 10 months ago.
On top of everything, he will be rusty.
So the scene is set, as boxer meets fighter, youth meets experience, the man on the way up meets the man at Last Chance Saloon, glitter meets grit. Young, flashy and unbeaten, Khan talks of "retiring" Earl and we can expect him to come out blazing tonight, given Earl's notorious slow start. But if Graham gets through the early stages (and has something left), his experience could tell. Make no mistake, he is the best opponent Khan has faced as a pro. An upset is not out of the question.
But I have a feeling Earl has gone to the well too often. The bigger, sharper, faster, fresher, better-boxing Khan, on home turf, on his birthday, comes through.
-
DavidPayne
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 6248
- Joined: 11 Mar 2004, 11:00
