Khan’s trainer wants him to control his speed in Molina fight

By ESB - 10/31/2012 - Comments

By Michael Collins: Virgil Hunter has been given the new task of trying to resurrect Amir Khan’s career after the blazing fast fighter suffered back to back defeats to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Hunter is now in the hot seat and has produce the results or he’ll very likely be sent packing just like Khan’s last two trainers have following knockout defeats by Khan.

Golden Boy Promotions has picked out a weak puncher for Khan to fight on December 15th in Carlos Molina (17-0, 7 KO’s), who is not only a light puncher but smaller than Khan by four inches. Molina is actually not even a light welterweight. Golden Boy picked out a lightweight for Khan to fight, which I guess is a precaution to make sure Khan doesn’t stretched again. It should work as long as Molina doesn’t load up and connect something big, because even weak punchers have enough power to KO guys with shaky chins like Khan.

Hunter told AFP “He [Khan] has to learn to harness his speed.”

Translated this would appear to mean that Khan needs to fight in a safety first manner to avoid throwing a lot of wild shots that leave him vulnerable to getting hit in between his punches. It’s pretty obvious that Hunter is going to try to turn Khan into a controlled puncher that is more selective in the shots he throws. He’s going to try and slow down Khan’s work rate and his feet, so that he’s not wasting energy. Hunter wants Khan to stay in the pocket more and defend.

It sounds good in theory but it’s a really risky thing because Khan is the equivalent of a skinny quarterback with bad knees with a weak offensive line facing huge defensive lineman looking to blast him to the turf. Standing in the pocket might not the smartest thing for a fighter like Khan to do given his history of getting hurt and getting knocked out.