(Photo: Naoki Fakuda) By Ben Hoskin: Alleged top ten p4p fighter Amir Khan was sensationally stopped in Las Vegas today by the highly unfancied Danny Garcia. Much of the build up centred on Khan’s last outing, a controversial defeat to Lamont Peterson who was subsequently found to be using a banned substance. Amir’s deficiencies in that fight were later blamed on having to fight an opponent “juiced up”. Todays events put that defeat to Peterson into perspective.
The titles up for grabs, the WBC and WBA were secondary to Khan in so much as he was, after victory, heading up to welterweight in a hoped for match up with Floyd Mayweather. In an eerily similar situation to the shock Ortiz defeat not so long ago, it appears another fighter has looked past an immediate opponent to the one on the horizon. Whilst Garcia may not be a household name, he was and still is undefeated which in itself should have warranted caution.
Much was made of Khan’s pedigree in the amateurs where he won Olympic silver and his professional record, yet it appears at times this very same pedigree can bring about his downfall. The Khan training camp seemed disjointed when master trainer Freddie Roach was absent for other boxing engagements. Seeing Khan and his sparring partner furiously trading seemed to me ridiculous. Surely sparring should be about working out strategies to beat your opponent not engaging in a proper tear-up? It wouldn’t have surprised me if the Garcia camp had watched this footage and seen the amateurish way Khan was jumping in throwing punches and leaving his right hand dangerously low after punching.
For someone like Garcia whose favoured weapon is his left hook come cross, seeing this fundamental error must have seemed like boxing nirvana. Freddie’s star pupil Pacquiao has just been beaten and star pupil number two has followed suit with consecutive reverses. Is the lustre of the Wild Card gym starting to lose it’s shine? What Roach’s thoughts were on Amir’s sparring in his absence aren’t clear but I’m sure it would have caused consternation.
Garcia’s cause could have been derailed by his father’s histrionics at various press gatherings but it seems to work for them. Danny just got on with his training in a workmanlike manner and one could almost be forgiven for thinking he was actually the challenger for the attention afforded the challenger Khan. In fact one valid point Garcia senior made was the fight poster having Khan’s name before Garcia’s.
Onto the action and it was readily apparent Amir was by far the quicker of the two. He got off to a fast start and it was like a carbon copy of his sparring wars mentioned earlier. The difference here in the squared circle however was the lack of headgear to diminish the opponent’s punch. Rounds one and two were clearly in favour of Khan and Garcia was marked and cut above the eye. The second round did see the counter-punching Danny start to score a little more regularly, timing Khan as he threw his punches. Another worrying habit Khan was exhibiting was throwing his man off when they clinched, just like the Peterson fight in which he had points taken from him.
The third round followed the pattern of the first two till out of the blue a timed left from Garcia put Khan on the canvas. The shot seemed to chop down and beneath the ear. It was fortunate for Khan the round ended soon after as his legs appeared shot. The end was near though and the fourth saw Khan completely disregard trying to get on his toes for three minutes and continue to trade whilst still feeling the effects of the previous round’s knock-down. A left and just for good measure, a right, as he was falling saw the referee call it off though Khan did get up before the count hit ten.
What I can’t understand is how with all his apparent advantages, Khan wanted to trade and run the risk of getting tagged? His speed and reach could have kept Garcia at bay all night, but by fighting as he did, he levelled the playing field. Is it just his propensity for not being able to strategise as events unfold or can we lay a lot of the blame on Roach? The upshot is Garcia can now plan some lucrative paydays with some of the light welters and welterweights though I feel he may be exposed through his lack of speed though he does possess a ton of guts and is still to taste defeat which breeds a huge amount of confidence. As for Amir Khan, the future appears bleak for him now. Three losses, two by crushing tko’s have given future opponents the blueprint for overcoming him. Get to those dodgy whiskers and all speed advantages he has are negated. Maybe Freddie Roach needs to up his game!