Amir Khan has added a belt to his jewelry collection. It is like winning a belt from K-mart , only this belt is gold and looks like a big piece of jewelry.
Khan did this by decisioning Andreas Kotelnik for his WBA light welterweight belt on Saturday night.
Any belt that starts with a capital W or I isn’t exactly worth it’s weight in gold. There is a good reason that fight experts refer to these belts as trinkets , because anyone can get one.
But I didn’t come here to blast the corrupt organizations. I actually came here to blast my fellow writers who have decided that Amir Khan is the next great fighter of our time.
To get here , lets first go back. In the last year Khan got blown out by Breidis Prescott , beat Oisin Fagan , won a technical decision over Marco Antonio Barrera and last night , beat Andreas Kotelnik.
The media has mentioned that Khan held his own when sparring with Manny Pacquiao. That he beat the great Barrera. And that under the tutelage of Freddie Roach , that the sky is the limit for Khan.
Look , I have no vendetta against Khan. I think he has some potential and pocesses a good offensive arsenal. But the press , especially the press in England , is trying to get us to believe that the kid is the real thing. He might be one day. But today is not that day.
Let us put things in their proper prospective. It wasn’t a big surprise when Prescott knocked out Khan. Khan had shown that his chin was suspect way before that fight. He had been knocked down by feather fisted fighters long before Prescott completed the job.
His fight with Barrera was to put a big name on his resume. Barrera had not looked good in years. Those close to him had tried to talk him out of any comeback. His last big fights showcased a shell of the fighter Barrera once was. He failed to engage and continually looked to be in survival mode. The press would have you believe that Khan beat the 2000 version of Barrera. The fact is that the 2000 version beats Khan in two rounds. For further proof as to how far Barrera had fallen , one need look no further than his tuneup fight for Khan. Barrera’s opponent in that fight was 1-7-1.
The fact that Khan held his own sparring wasn’t exactly mind blowing. It was SPARRING. Sparring is when you work on your timing and to get ready for your next opponent. It wasn’t in Vegas in front of twenty thousand people. And if Roach had turned Pacquiao loose I don’t think there would have been much of a sparring session to write about.
The press had a field day when Freddie Roach said Khan was the real thing. It is a case of the publicity machine run amok. The sky is the limit , but that particular sky has limitations.
Roach knows that you can’t put washboard abs on Khan’s chin. So he will guide him the best way he can. Which means Khan will not face a power puncher or someone that can match his handspeed. Kotelnik was a decent test , but he isn’t the quickest hamster in the cage and he doesn’t have a big punch.
So Khan will fight fringe contenders for awhile. Carefully avoiding names like Marquez , Campbell and Bradley. He’ll look good doing it and the media will swoon like high school girls around the cute quaterback. Roach knows his fighter’s limitations. I believe Khan does also. The only ones that don’t are the ones putting him way up high on that pedestal. Be careful , it is a long way down if you fall.
