By Michael Collins: Well, Amir Khan has finally pulled the trigger and dumped his trainer Freddie Roach after suffering back to back losses in his last two fight. You had to figure someone was going to end up a casualty after Khan’s latest failing and unfortunately for Roach it’s him that’s being dismissed. According to Dan Rafael, Virgil Hunter, the trainer for WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward, is a leading candidate to get the job.
Khan said on his twitter yesterday: “Officially I’ve left Freddie Roach. Just spoke to him and had a good professional chat and maybe in the future we (will) work together. Freddie understood why I’m looking at other trainers and wished me all the best for the future.”
It’s somewhat surprising that Roach is being released from his position because he helped Khan capture two world titles at light welterweight. It’s hard to blame Roach for Khan’s loss to Lamont Peterson, a fight in which Khan could have won had he not shoved Peterson so often. Khan had warnings from the referee to stop shoving but he continued to do it and ultimately it cost him two points in deductions.