AMIR KHAN GIVES ROACH A DOUBLE CELEBRATION
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 07 Dec 2008
Britain?s promising Amir Khan who won a silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and sparred with Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao at the Wild Card Gym of celebrated two-time ?Trainer of the Year? Freddie Roach clearly benefited from the weeks of training in Los Angeles and put on an impressive to demolish Oisin Fagan in two rounds at the Exel Arena in London a few hours before Pacquiao crushed Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas.
Khan (19-1, 15 KO?s) was returning to the ring after his stunning first round knockout loss to unknown Breidis Prescott. Khan had Fagan (22-5) in trouble in the opening round when he dropped him twice and the end was only a question of time.
Khan who showed solid improvement after his training stint under Roach and the experience gained sparring with Pacquiao, went after Fagan in round two with a variety of solid shots and forced Fagan?s corner to virtually throw in the towel and call a halt.
Roach?s conditioning coach Alex Ariza said the win by Khan made Roach ?very happy? since they both thought highly of the 21 year old Briton?s talent just as Pacquiao did.
In his first sparring session when he went two rounds with Pacquiao, Khan?s speed appeared to bother Pacquiao who soon recovered and handled the young Briton very well.
After one of his last sparring sessions with Pacquiao, Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times quoted Khan as saying ?Manny's in great shape -- very explosive, very fast, you don't know where his punches are coming from. He's got a good chance to beat Oscar."
Khan got careless and was nailed by Prescott in 54 seconds of round one but he didn?t commit any such mistakes against Fagan.
But Khan said from his personal observation he believes Pacquiao can compensate for his moving from the lightweight limit of 135 pounds when he won the WBC title with a 9th round demolition of David Diaz to fight De La Hoya at the stipulated weight of 147 pounds.
Khan said "Manny's so sharp and quick. Speed is power," echoing what both Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Roach have maintained ? that ?speed kills.?
Khan added. "Manny's got a good chin to handle what Oscar throws at him. He'll just be too explosive for Oscar, and he's a big puncher himself." In the end, the Briton, unlike Bernard Hopkins, Juan Manuel Marquez and a host of other fighters and trainers who picked De La Hoya to win by a knockout was proven correct.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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