The writing was on the wall long before Amir Khan hit the floor, says Glenn McCrory of that 'car crash' KO.
Prescott pick was all wrong - and it got worse from there
Wow. Wow. And wow! Even now the dust has settled, I am struggling to get my head round what we saw at the MEN Arena on Saturday. It was an absolute car crash, a massive, massive mistake.
And although hindsight is a wonderful gift, it
was on the cards. We all said Breidis Prescott must have something about him with that knockout percentage and we all knew Amir Khan had been knocked down before. I just couldn't quite see why they took the fight - and that was the problem.
It's not like Frank Warren either; he normally matches his fighters very carefully. The word is it was the trainer, Jorge Rubio, who picked out the Colombian, but I cannot believe they took the fight without seeing the kid in action first.
Not only are trainers not promoters or matchmakers, Rubio is new to the Khan camp and someone they don't know that well themselves. How Prescott got through the radar, I will never know, but I would be very surprised if Dean Powell was involved.
Coaches, promoters and boxers, like the rest of us, all get carried away with their men, but what we saw on Saturday night is that boxing is the greatest leveller of all.
If you're not quite right, if the opponent's the wrong man for you, then any mug in the world can knock you out - never mind a Colombian with 17 KO's in 19 fights! We've seen it with Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas, we've seen it with Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall.
I have to tell you, I was sat next to Nicky Piper in the studio at the MEN Arena on Saturday and the moment we saw Prescott, hitting the pads in his dressing room with those long, looping punches, we just looked at each other. The studio just fell silent. There was an immediate sense something awful was going to happen. 'What the hell have they done here?', we wondered.
All we could think is that Khan's team must have known something we didn't, seen something we hadn't. Was Prescott ill, did he have health problems, was there something suspect in his make-up? Why else would you choose a guy who is much taller and a real banger? The writing was on the wall.
Defence
And then when the fight started, the one thing everyone had talked about getting right, the one thing we wanted to see and the one thing they
had to get right was Amir's defence. We all know the answer to that.
I don't thing Amir can be criticised too much though. He is only 21 and the one thing that strikes me about him is he is not a showman, all the publicity doesn't seem to sit well with him. What we had on Saturday night was a nervous young man who was just eager to please. He didn't rush out like a madman, he just did what anyone would do in that situation, he just wanted to get the job done.
I suppose the one positive to come out of it all is that he will learn from it. I had said in the build-up I wanted to see him settle down in his fights more, take his time and going in against a puncher like Prescott was the perfect time to do it.
I know he was the greatest of all time but Muhammad Ali used to spend the first round dancing around, finding his range, seeing what the other guy had to offer. He went in with a puncher in George Foreman and didn't get involved in any conflict until the eighth round - and then he knocked him out!
I am not saying he is Ali, but I sure Amir will learn from that. There is no danger of him falling apart either, the way Errol Christie did after his 46-second blowout against Jose Seys. His family and his team seem to have taken defeat philosophically and this will put his feet back on the ground for sure. He has to go back to the drawing board as well and change a few things.
His next camp has to be based around dangerous sparring partners who will make him do lots of defensive work and although it is hard for a lad of 21, he has to take his time in the ring.
But there is no questioning his ability still and he also showed us what a huge heart he has. Even when he was out on his feet, he wanted to keep going and there are plenty of fighters who wouldn't have got up from that first knockdown.
Tradition
Jorge Rubio has to convince me as well. Regardless of picking Prescott, I am just not sure he is the man for the job. I know Cuban boxing inside out and they just have no tradition, background or involvement in professional boxing.
Amateur boxing, yes, there are none better, but the paid game is different. I remember sitting watching a fight with one of my Cuban coaches a couple of years back and he looked at one of the fighters and said "No, no. No good. He's no good". No good? He was talking about Marco Antonio Barrera!
Trainers are only as good as their fighters, but I would have preferred to see Amir with a top-notch name like Floyd Mayweather Snr or Freddie Roach. It's not brain surgery or molecular science, it's boxing. But you have to have the basics working well and that includes defence. But Amir is happy with Rubio, so we have to see what happens. Just please don't let him pick the next opponent!
I was also disappointed with Alex Arthur on Saturday night. I was delighted for Nicky Cook, who has been a real servant to the sport, done it the hard way and deserves every ounce of glory that comes his way. But Arthur was a letdown. He has switched trainers six or seven times looking for something that's missing.
Motivation
Alex's problem was there for all to see at the end of the 10th, when he asked Wayne McCullough to give him faith. If Alex Arthur wants faith in his boxing, if Alex Arthur wants to believe in himself, there is only person who can give it to him: Alex Arthur.
He needs to look in the mirror. Yes a trainer can push you and give you the odd key word here and there, but the motivation, the inner strength has to come from yourself.
And please Alex, I know you're a smashing lad, but for Pete's sake leave that out of the ring! Afterwards he invited Cook out for dinner, which is all well and good, but this is fighting!
They even shared a kiss at one stage and it looked as if Arthur was asking him what he wanted for the main course. He got fouled and responded by touching gloves. You're fighting for the world title, so if you get hit low, you hit back low! Come on Alex, you're a boxer!
Which leads nicely onto Audley Harrison, a 17½stone Olympic super-heavyweight gold medalist, who towered over his opponent on Saturday.
If that fight with George Arias had been in a playground, Audley would've been stuck in detention for picking on a smaller kid. That was a three-round fight in my eyes. Audley just had to go out there hit the guy and keep hitting him until the ref pulled him off, not prance around behind the jab!
His new slogan is: "Yes, I can". Well, Audley my old mate, I'm afraid I've only got three words for you following that display: "No, you can't".
Do you agree with Glenn? Will Khan recover fully from that KO? Was Alex Arthur too nice in the ring? And can Audley? Let us know by filling in the feedback form below...
