By Bill Patrice Jones: Roughly a year ago HBO confidently asserted that the light-welterweight division was more loaded with exciting talent than any other. Some of the best up and coming fighters in the world were just embarking on world championship level careers. The list included: Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Marcos Maidana and now arguably the most special of them all Amir ‘King’ Khan.
Whenever Floyd Mayweather Jr or Manny Pacquiao lace gloves, regardless of who they fight, more interest and excitement is generated than for any other fighter in the world; however, outside of those two legends in the making who stands the best chance of ascending to that pedestal? The answer may very well be Amir Khan. Khan’s immense talent and marketability have never been underestimated, nor has his ability to be successful at championship level. Where there has been doubt, and uncertainty, though is in whether or not young Amir can fight in several weight divisions among boxing’s elite, and prove himself one of the best fighters in the world. Those who have refrained from placing their complete faith and trust in Amir’s future have predictably pointed to the one alleged flaw in his armour: the now notorious questionable or ‘glass jaw.’ Even in the immediate aftermath of last Saturday’s victory, some of the British sportscasters for the PPV service primetime still felt the need to emphasise once more this supposed Achilles heel. Ironically, or perhaps disturbingly, the central thrust of the ‘glass jaw’ argument comes from Khan’s own home country. Unlike so many British world champions who have come before him, Amir now finds that he is more appreciated in the United States than in Britain. The question fans need to consider is: In light of his win over Zab Judah, will Amir Khan’s punch resistance really inhibit him from becoming one of the world’s best boxers?
The significance of Amir Khan’s total destruction of Zab Judah last Saturday cannot be overstated. Most boxing insiders understood that Judah was probably past his best, and that he had lost all of his mega fights over the last six years. Yet even taking all of this into account, almost no one foresaw that Khan would exert such a level of dominance that he would only have to take one left hook from Judah over the course of five rounds en route to a stunning knockout. When they asked Bernard Hopkins after the fight if Khan could become one of boxing’s elite he answered ‘if he wasn’t before, he is tonight.’ Hopkins was suitably impressed at Khan’s ability to repeatedly land combinations against a fast elusive and extremely talented southpaw. Indeed when you consider that Khan looked like he couldn’t miss against someone who not too long ago looked very good in the first half of his fight with Mayweather, then you must also consider the possibility that you just witnessed the next big thing in boxing.
Khan came into his fight with Judah as the favourite. Almost everything beforehand suggested he could and would win the fight. The victory is not what is important here; it is the nature of that victory. Call Zab Judah what you want, but no one can watch him fight and then deny his tremendous ability. While his career never fulfilled what many in the sport predicted for him, Judah has remained one of boxing’s big names ever since his career defining knockout loss to Kosta Tyszu in 2001. Between the Tyszu and Khan fights, Judah won two more world titles and lost five more fights. Cory Spinks upset him on points before losing the rematch, Carlos Baldomir also caused a massive upset by outpointing him, Floyd Mayweather came back to dominate the latter stages of what was an enthralling and tactical battle, Miguel Cotto wore down and eventually stopped him, and finally Joshua Clottey scored a victory with an unsatisfactory technical decision. That’s obviously not the resume of one of the world’s current best pound for pound fighters. However none of those aforementioned fighters came remotely close to doing what Amir Khan did to Judah. Watching it live it looked like Zab was fighting in slow motion, simply unable to get out of the way of Amir’s punches. Judah was on the receiving end of crisp jabs, fast straight right hands, uppercuts and body punches. By the fourth round the man nicknamed ‘super’ was so demoralised he could be seen looking forlornly out towards the crowd, finally it was over with a body punch before Judah could get started.
Freddie Roach, Richard Schaeffer and Amir Khan’s manager have all been very vocal about the big plans for Amir’s future. Roach has always been keen for Amir to unify the light-welterweight belts, as it is a rarity in boxing to see someone hold all four major titles in a division. However should Timothy Bradley continue to show no interest in a fight with Khan, Roach and the rest of the team are confident Amir can move up to welterweight and challenge Floyd Mayweather. Clearly as one of HBO’s hottest prospects, the time seems to be ripe for Amir to challenge the sport’s elite.
Yet for all of this, in Britain at least, the question still persists about Amir Khan’s chin, and his ability to become an all time great. The Prescott defeat still haunts Amir, but should it? Khan has stated repeatedly that he feels it was the ‘best thing to ever happen to him.’ In fairness Amir could hardly escape what had happened, but now three years later it seems glaringly obvious that it was career wise, the best thing to ever happen to him. What the stunning nature of the Prescott defeat caused Khan to do was stop believing in his own hype, and to abandon the Amir Khan show in the U.K. Starting his professional career with fame and riches behind him, Khan was immediately exposed to the glamorous side of prize fighting. Overtime, and without a world-class trainer, Khan became an increasingly reckless and unnecessarily aggressive fighter. Buying into the ‘Tyson factor’ Amir relished fighting in an all action style. On the sixth of September 2008 he paid the price when he ran into Prescott’s bombs and was smashed to the canvas.
Amir Khan is a far cry from the overzealous fighter who lost to Prescott in Manchester. Though he still possesses all of the same natural attributes, his development under Roach has been spectacular and fast. Though glimpses of recklessness were on display against Marcos Maidana, one senses Khan was, perhaps foolishly, out to prove a point that night that he could take the shots of a huge puncher. Never again will you see Khan ‘run’ into the punches of an opponent. Amir is now a supremely gifted fighter exacting the strategies of a master trainer. A good example of a fighter who refused to adhere to such change in recent times is Paul Williams. Though there are obvious differences between the two, one can see in Williams what happens when a tall rangy fighter with natural ability refuses to abandon an all action style of fighting.
Even if Britain remain coy about Amir being one of the world’s best fighters, fans around the world can have no reason not to expect him to become one. Will he ever have fantastic punch resistance? No. However will he require it to become one of the top pound for pound fighters? The answer is also no. So much mythology is invested in the concept of a ‘glass jaw’ that it can obscure people from appropriately rating boxers. We all remember the nonsense over the years about Lennox Lewis’ chin not being able to hold up? More recently we remember how Wladimir Klitschko’s supposed ‘glass jaw’ reached an almost mythical level, yet when David Haye connected with it not much happened. One can suspect something similar will happen with Amir Khan as he continues to have success among boxing’s elite. As for myself, I’d much rather get excited about a fighter who is so good he may one day have the beating of a Floyd Mayweather, instead of harking on about that fighters supposed ‘glass jaw.’