Amir Khan is the most exciting name in British boxing, the hottest name in British boxing - and he's the future of British boxing.
It's great his coming to Sky as well, because he is the up-and-coming superstar. We have, in truth, seen the best of Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton, and Amir is the one ready to take over their mantle.
Khan: even more to come
He is the one all the kids look up to and you cannot under-estimate his impact on the future of British boxing.
I have a fair few Asian kids who come to my gym and I can see what an inspiration he is to them. They are all so dedicated, hungry and determined to do well. It is a real breath of fresh air and you can see Amir's professionalism and approach rubbing of them.
I'll admit I know nothing about this Breidis Prescott, but I like the look of this fight. He has a similar record to Khan, and because he is unbeaten, has credibility. And an unbeaten fighter always poses a certain amount of danger.
Glenn McCrory
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He is clearly hungry himself. He wants to do well. And I am sure he will.
It will be interesting to see what impact his new trainer Jorge Rubio has. I've got to be honest and say I had half expected him to sign up with a big name trainer from the States. And I've got to be honest and say I had never heard of Rubio! Neither had the Cuban coaches at my gym.
But from what I have read and heard, he is doing the right thing with Khan. He does need to keep his hands up and above all he needs to slow down a bit, in the ring. He is young and wants to do well, but starting against Bleidis Prescott, I would like to see him taking his time a little more.
Of course that will come with experience, but given he has such ridiculously fast hands, Amir doesn't have to rush in. That's when he gets caught and put on his backside.
Those knockdowns against Willie Limond and Michael Gomez also show that he has got bottle, though. He also has great punching power and since Athens, really has been a revelation.
Danger
But he is not ready for a world title yet. Everybody, Amir included, was clamouring for a world-title fight with someone like Joan Guzman, but it is still too early. I don't think fighting Kevin Kelley or Derrick Gainer would have done him much good either.
I'll admit I know nothing about this Breidis Prescott, but I like the look of this fight. He has a similar record to Khan, and because he is unbeaten, has credibility. And an unbeaten fighter always poses a certain amount of danger. With Kelley and Gainer, we all know their limitations and of course their 'experience' - which is the nice way of putting it!
Prescott is just the sort of fight Amir needs. The British public kind of new what to expect from Michael Gomez as well but now, all of a sudden, no-one knows what we are going to get.
The biggest danger though is that Amir starts to believe his own hype. He seems like a down-to-earth kid but I hope he doesn't start to think he's a superstar just yet. It will be up to the people around him to keep their wits about them and his feet on the ground.
And it will be up to Rubio to iron out those little mistakes we have seen, because the further up he goes, the more they might end up costing him.
But what I really like about Amir Khan is that for all we have seen of him, we don't know what he is capable of yet. He needs some tougher challenges to bring the best out of him and for all we know he might have come this far with bags left in reserve.
I am sure these next few fights on Sky will tell us just how good he is going to be...
Comments (1)
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Lee Harris says...
I think Amir is a talented fighter with the potential to become a great fighter, but I'm a firm believer that if you want to be the best at anything then you take on the best at the level you are at. Once you beat them you step up. You only become a great fighter once you've beaten all the other great fighters at your weight. I liked the look of Khan's next opponent Breidis Prescott, unbeaten record, bit of a puncher, looked good then I checked him out... he's practically a novice in the pro game, with nearly all his fights being in his home town and against opponents on losing streaks. As for this being a 50/50 fight for Khan ... hehehe more like 90/10 in Khan's favour with the only chance of him loosing is if he trips over his own shoe lace and lands on Prescott's right. Stop wrapping him in cotton wool otherwise he'll end up like Naz, another potentially great fighter who avoided the great fighters until it was too late and got whipped.
Posted 14:05 21st August 2008
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