Amir Khan never faltered from the gameplan set him by Freddie Roach to defeat Andreas Kotelnik and gain the WBA light-welterweight prize, the astute American trainer told Telegraph Sport.
Roach admitted he had “never let Khan off the leash” during the fight, which Khan won by a landslide points decision on the judges’ cards.
“I said show me the gameplan, show me the gameplan, that’s all, through the 12 rounds,” said Roach, who returned to the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, CA, early Monday morning, leaving Khan to have a week’s rest and recuperation.
Roach added: “I didn’t let him off the leash tonight because this guy is too dangerous.”
The celebrated US trainer also says that there were many mistakes which Khan can still work on. “Amir took some good shots, he rolled with some shots, used his movement a lot. Sometimes when he was doing that though, he was taking his eye off his opponent and that’s when he got in a little bit of trouble.
“We’re going to work on that because when you take your eye off your opponent, when you come up blind you don’t see the punch coming. Of course tonight has given us a lot to work on but the thing is, I told him ‘win every round one at a time’ and that’s what he did. I’m so happy with his performance.”
Roach thought it was a shutout for Khan over the twelve rounds. “I didn’t give any rounds to Kotelnik. Amir won the exchanges every time.”
Roach must now work on a style with Khan so that he can take on some of the fast, Mexican fighters in the 140lb division, who stay close and in the pocket when exchanging. At present, Khan’s style is to hit and move.
Roach explained: “We’ve got to learn how to deal with guys who put pressure on because guys are going to watch this tape and see he had a little trouble with the pressure. It’s something we’ll work on, of course. It gives us some great stuff to work on in the gym. We’ll sit down and watch the tape and he will improve.”
