It used to be a match made in heaven, Freddie Roach the world known trainer and the rising star from the UK, Amir Khan. I have spoken with Roach (back when I was allowed to) about Khan about his then young rising star, and Roach had nothing but great things to say about him. He called him a future star, a potential pound for pound great, many more great things.
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It took a few losses and a few public words by Khan to anger Roach to the point where he’s publicly lashing out at the guy. Khan apparently made some sort of comparison between himself and Pacquiao regarding offensive skill sets. People can agree or disagree with that comparison. Khan does however have a point when it comes to Roach and defense. How many Roach fighters that train out of the Wild Card gym that are trained by Roach have great defense? Floyd Mayweather Sr made this point in an earlier interview that I did with him a few months ago.
Roach is obviously irritated with Khan. I guess he’s not used to getting fired by a professional fighter. Khan has been taking a lot of heat by some out there for releasing Roach and going in a different direction. Should he though? I think not. Khan has a career of his own that he wants to try and fix. He has plenty of offensive fire power, but he definitely needs to work on his defense. He gets hit too much.
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Roach has had a lot of very skilled fighters come to him requesting his training services, Tyson, De La Hoya, Toney, Pacquiao, Khan, Chavez Jr, etc. These are already talented fighters, so did Roach get too much credit over the years for racking up wins with each of these types of fighters? That’s a question that can be tossed around and debated.
It’s sort of like when someone says how great Quarterbacks are. Joe Montana for example, would he be AS great if he didn’t have Jerry Rice? Would Troy Aikman been as great without the likes of Michael Irvin? Would Scotty Pippen been as productive without the likes of Michael Jordan? Would Roach be in the Hall of Fame if Manny Pacquiao never walked into his gym? Maybe….maybe not.
Khan has amazing offensive skills. He’s fast, he moves, fast feet, he has all the skills he needs offensively. Good defense? It’s not there. He did the right thing bringing in a new trainer.
