British boxing sensation, Amir Khan came to United States several years ago to chase an American dream. Former Olympic silver medalist wants to become the best pound for pound fighter in the world. To achieve that goal Amir hired a legendary coach, Freddie Roach who is currently training best pound for pound boxer in the world, Manny Pacquiao.
?Freddie knows boxing,?said Khan who was ringside doing a braodcast for British television of last Saturday?s figt involving his stable mate and friend Manny Pacquiao.?It was a good fight. When I was watching it I had Manny Pacquiao probably down by one round,?said Khan when I interviwed him on Tuesday at the Wildcard Boxing Club in Hollywood:?But when I came home and I watched the fight. I had Manny winning the fight. There is too much pressure on Manny Pacquiao. He has one bad performance and people start to criticize him. You can’t always have a good performance.?Speaking about bad performance, Amir had a taste of that three years ago when he got knocked out in the first round by heavy handed Breidis Prescott. He wowed to never let this happen again. That?s when he dicided to take his show on the road. He moved to Hollywood and hooked up with Freddie Roach. Advertisement
Is Amir Khan ready to face Manny Pacquiao kind of fan scrutiny? Only time will tell. For now he will be defending WBA and IBF light welterweight titles against skilled and tough fighter from Washington D.C, Lamont Peterson .
?Lamont is going to be tough,?agreed Khan :?He is going to be tricky and that’s the reason we’ve been working very very hard. This fight is going to be tough, no matter what. I am not taking Lamont Peterson lightly. I’ve been training hard every day; we only had one day off a week, but it’s going to be a tough test for me and we know we have to be prepared.?
Las Vegas book makers have Amir Khan as a nine to win favorite to win the fight against Peterson. However insiders feel this is a much tougher fight than the odds would indicate. You could draw paralles with Pacquiao who was ten to one favorite to beat Marquez last Saturday.
?I never really look at the odds,?said Khan, 24:?Because I never bet myself, but every fight is a tough fight. You are always one punch away from getting hurt. I just kind of ignore that and we see what happens in the fight.?
Amir Kahn is not a gambling man, but his promoter,Oscar De La Hoya is betting on Amir to become a global super star in the near future. That is why they have had Amir Khan’s fights staged all over United States, such as New York and Las Vegas. Televised libe by HBO ,December 10th event is scheduled to take place at Convention Center, Washington, D.C which is Lamont Peterson?s back yard. Aside from a home field advantage, Peterson is a very skilful inside fighter. Is Khan ready for that?
?We have been working on fighting inside and we’ve been working on fighting outside,?continued Khan:?We are going to be ready for Lamont Peterson no matter what. We know he is tough guy inside. We know he is tough guy outside, but we know exactly what to do. As long as I stick to the game plan and I don’t make mistakes I ‘ll be fine.?
Gifted natural athlete with speed and power in both hands Amir Khan has been earning respect of American fight fans gradually. However , first round knock out loss at the hands of Breidis Prescott three years ago has fans branding him as a fighter with a weak chin. His last year’s fight with a ruged banger , Marcos Maidana went a long way in restoring his image. Way ahead on the score cards Khan ran into a hard right hand in the tenth round that put him in the world of trouble. Amir showed his conditioning and guts and determination. He survived the round and subsequently won the fight. Khan gave a big credit for this victory to his strength and conditioning coach,Alex Ariza who will be in his corner for Lamont Peterson’s fight.
?I have been working hard with him,?continued Khan:?He’s been killing me with the runs and the steps and the physical part of boxing, but I’ve enjoyed it. I love training with Alex Ariza. I think he is great at what he does. It’s been a tough camp. This camp has been very, very hard. We’ve had a long camp and not much traveling. The only traveling I did was go to Vegas . It’s been great . I can’t wait to get in on December 10th and fight.?
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