Name the tools: quick hands, footwork, power, ability to throw punches from a variety of angles-and this guy is easily the next big thing in lightweight. After all, he's an Olympic hero who performs explosively when he's laced up. Include in the list a sizeable quantity of fan base and its safe to say that he indeed has it all. Well, almost all.
Amir Khan (19-1, 15 KOs) is fun to watch. His talent alone, a delightful combination of fluid movements and quick short punches, spells bright future. We can't blame the boxing fans for elevating him to a status too high for his level and accomplishments. For he's a fine fighter and a thrilling performer that every time he steps into the ring, somebody gets hurt. And it's sometimes him.
Maybe the religious wise saying that you can't be blessed with everything suits Khan perfectly. He's cursed with a weak chin, a very-very weak chin. A hard jab and he's stunned. A huge overhand followed by a vicious hook and he's dead. It's foolish to believe you're untouchable with that kind of chin. Breidis Prescott (21-0, 18 KOs) made it clear to him on their fight September last year. And if the knockdowns he suffered against average punchers like Willie Limond (31-2, 8 KOs) and Michael Gomez (38-9, 25 KOs) earlier were any indications, he should have known he couldn't hold on with the "o" in his record for long. Not with the kind of chin and defence he has, no matter how seemingly fluid his footwork is. Those knockdowns have spelled out clearly not only the fact that he can't take a punch, but also the defensive flaws in his style.
If a wide punch can catch you clean on as early as the first 23-25 seconds of the opener, there's something wrong with your "D". The devastating and embarrassing first round knock out loss he suffered from the hands of Columbian Prescott has definitely put to rest any arguments there may still be about his chin. To say that his chin is average is a blasphemous overstatement. He has no chin at all, period. He can't take a punch, and that became a precise call after he tasted the first defeat of his well-hyped career at the hands of little-known and completely out-of-the-scene opponent. If it's any consolation, it's good to see him sticking his left guard where it should be whenever, on his last fight, Oisin Fagan (22-6, 13 KOs) throws a hail-mary right hand. It was a defensive adjustment he learned after the highly regarded Freddie Roach, his new trainer.
However, Fagan is not even a shadow of the kind of calibre that was Marco Antonio Barrera (65-6, 43 KOs). The Baby-Faced Assassin of Guadalajara, Mexico, despite of his advancing age and seemingly wearing body, is still better than any fighter Khan has ever shared the ring with. He may be past his best but he's far from being shot. He's faster, stronger, technically superior, smarter and more experienced than any names in Khan's resume. His losing efforts against current pound-for-pound
elite Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4, 37 KOs) still speaks of the brilliance we all remember Barrera for. He can still pick his spots pretty well, slip precise counters, stand there at the middle and bang and he can send you to the canvass with just a short swing. His last two fights, of course, were made to keep him busy and maybe help him adjust his body to the lightweight class before taking on any big names.
If anything, the choice of fight for Amir Khan in Barrera on March 14, 2009 at Manchester, England rings as a shocker. There's a big risk written all over it. Barrera is past his best, old and dangerous while Khan is young, quick and china-chinned. It's hard to see where Khan is going if he lose this one. A Barrera defeat could send his career, as brilliant and promising at the onset, to spiral down the limbo. On the other hand, it can be said that Roach, the guy who has defeated the Assassin twice through his most prized fighter Manny Pacquiao (48-3, 36 KOs) may have seen something in Khan and Barrera that we don't know of. After he's proven the world wrong about his choice of fight for Pacquiao in Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) at welterweight, it's hard to argue against him.
One thing that's going their way is that Khan and Roach is fighting Barrera at lightweight, the division where Khan has made a name. Barrera, for his part, is practically a newcomer in the division, having fought only two short bouts at the weight, and against tomato cans.
Roach is obviously banking on two things: first, Barrera is on the slide; and two, Barrera is small at lightweight. While the first one is correct and precise, the second one remains to be seen. In the same manner as the efficacy of the defensive adjustments Khan would adopt for an offensive monster like Barrera, it remains to be seen. What doesn't need further assessment is how Khan's chin would react if it gets hit flush. Barrera has done it against a technically gifted Juan Manuel Marquez and the near shut down and one-sided beating he handed on Khan's compatriot Naseem Hamed (36-1, 31 KOs) on 2001 can still be as fresh as he would want it to be. To spell the fact once more: he's past it, but he's not over the hill yet. He's far from being shot. He is still dangerous.
Khan's pronouncements before the Prescott fight about him being untouchable is forgivable-no matter how incredible and amusing those words may sound to be-provided he proves his defence and chin against his most dangerous opponent yet two weeks from now. After all, it was the hard hitting Pacman himself who said that Khan has done well in their sparring sessions, where Khan has stated that he was never battered once.
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