Boxing

[marcus50bucks]

I felt Zab left it too late and his father wasn't giving him the best advice. So many times Garcia was wide open for the right hook but Zab only started to throw it towards the end of the fight.

[marcus50bucks]

Mayweather v Guerrero next week

Documentary about Mayweather which aired in the US the other night

[ame]http://youtu.be/3hBly3Igxcg[/ame]

[Gibbo]

Khan got silly trying to trade with Diaz. Especially when he had the fight won.

Kids got massive heart though you have to give him that. Took some bombs and managed to stay on his feet, he really is an exciting fighter.

Needs to keep working on his defence.

[red g]

to be fair to Khan he has a right chin and heart of a lion which is what he needs as he loves getting clocked on it!!!

HAs to be one of my favourite fighters to watch though, Can't think of many others that keep you so glued to the screen!

[Shaggy]

Likewise, yet still he's getting loads of abuse. Don't understand it at all. Actually, I do and I think some of it is a bit sinister.

[marcus50bucks]

Not sure I agree with you Shaggy, well not on my part anyway. For me Khan is still making the same mistakes. His defence is extremely poor, he really needs to work on this and keep a tight guard. He still tends to drop his hands when he punches and leaves his chin exposed. The one credit I can give Khan last night is that he did try to hold on to Diaz whenever he got hit and troubled instead of trading like he would do under Roach. I really don't see him improving all that much in the future if I'm honest. His punch resistance will be his downfall. Eventually the big shots he's taking on his chin will take it's toll. I rate hunter as a trainer but it's going to be difficult trying to get someone to change a style they have adopted for most of their career.

[Tee]

Likewise, yet still he's getting loads of abuse. Don't understand it at all. Actually, I do and I think some of it is a bit sinister.

[Gibbo]

I don't know. Khan showed many signs last night of thinking before punching, stepping back instead of flying in like a whirlwind. The only time I only really saw him go back to his old ways was in the 11th.

Working with Ward and Hunter can only be beneficial to him going forward.

[marcus50bucks]

I don't know. Khan showed many signs last night of thinking before punching, stepping back instead of flying in like a whirlwind. The only time I only really saw him go back to his old ways was in the 11th.

Working with Ward and Hunter can only be beneficial to him going forward.

Diaz let Khan off the hook a few times last night. He hurt him a number of times but wasn't good enough to take advantage. As I said last night put Khan up against a top level light-welterweight and they will make him pay imo. I hope I'm wrong but I honestly cannot see him beating Garcia or Mattysse if he fights either one of them in December. I think he would beat Peterson though.

[Imy]

Likewise, yet still he's getting loads of abuse. Don't understand it at all. Actually, I do and I think some of it is a bit sinister.

Good article written on the subject:

Amir Khan: Why he just can’t win over the doubters

Spend an hour on Twitter after an Amir Khan fight and you will discover why the Bolton-born boxer doesn't spend more time in his home country than he strictly needs to.

The amount of ill will out there for a man who won a silver medal for Great Britain at the 2004 Olympics and a world title as a pro is depressing. Amir Khan is arrogant, Amir Khan is an embarrassment, Amir Khan can't box. No, really, this is what people are saying.

And this after he gave Sheffield fans - and thousands more watching on television - one of the most entertaining fights of the year, a barnstormer against Mexico's Julio Diaz at the Motorpoint Arena. That's gratitude for you.
Ringside viewpoint

One of Khan's biggest crimes, as far as I can work out, is that he is not as good as Floyd Mayweather, which is a bit like saying Andy Murray is iffy at tennis because he is not as good as Novak Djokovic.

In truth, the fight against Diaz revealed that Khan is always likely to come up short against the very best because he is unable to break the habit of being drawn into a war almost every time he fights. And left hooks are drawn to his face like iron filings to a magnet. His trainer Virgil Hunter can get under the bonnet and tune his defences, but he cannot put muscles on his chin.

But it is this defensive susceptibility which makes Khan such tremendous box office. The fight against Diaz followed a similar path to his ding-dong engagement with Marcos Maidana in 2010, which was voted fight of the year by United States boxing writers. Indeed, he is hardly ever in a bad one.

Few British fighters have provided so much bang for their buck - Nigel Benn? Naseem Hamed? - yet instead of thanking Khan for his entertainment, his heart and his bravery, many choose to focus on his deficiencies.

It has apparently been forgotten by some, but Benn was wobbled many times during his career and stopped four times. However, unlike Khan, the former two-weight world champion was wildly popular and remains so to this day.

Sir Henry Cooper is perhaps the most loved British fighter in history, yet he lost 14 fights and was usually found wanting against elite-level heavyweights. This is not a criticism of Cooper, merely a comment on how people's attitudes towards boxers and boxing have apparently changed down the years.

This antipathy towards Khan is not a new development. Ringside observers were disgusted by the reaction of sections of the crowd when he was knocked out in less than a minute by Breidis Prescott in 2008. Khan was booed out of the ring that night while some of the abuse thrown his way was racially motivated, as it was again before and after his defeat of Marco Antonio Barrera in 2009.

Khan has rarely complained about his treatment and when he did a few years ago - "if I were a white English fighter," he said, "maybe I'd have been a superstar in Britain" - he was criticised by some for playing the race card.

Khan's detractors on the home front will be buoyed by the news that Khan is unlikely to fight in Britain again. His next fight will take place in the US in December, when he is pencilled in to face the winner of the light-welterweight tournament that kicked off in New York on Saturday.

Danny Garcia, who knocked Khan out last July, beat Zab Judah with a unanimous points decision at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and is scheduled to fight the winner of next month's bout between Lamont Peterson and Lucas Matthysse.

If he emerges victorious from that lot, Khan will probably land his dream fight against Floyd Mayweather next year. Mayweather will probably stand Khan on his head and people will say he can't box. So it goes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/22327752

[Tee]

All said and done I actually preferred the more attacking Khan under Roach. Although I think it is actually the fitness guru Alex Ariza who Khan misses most. Never was put down in any fight that he conditioned him, including that incredible Maidana fight.

[Shaggy]

Not sure I agree with you Shaggy, well not on my part anyway. For me Khan is still making the same mistakes. His defence is extremely poor, he really needs to work on this and keep a tight guard. He still tends to drop his hands when he punches and leaves his chin exposed. The one credit I can give Khan last night is that he did try to hold on to Diaz whenever he got hit and troubled instead of trading like he would do under Roach. I really don't see him improving all that much in the future if I'm honest. His punch resistance will be his downfall. Eventually the big shots he's taking on his chin will take it's toll. I rate hunter as a trainer but it's going to be difficult trying to get someone to change a style they have adopted for most of their career.

Mate...no-one disagrees with or doubts that. He's not elite level and has too many obvious flaws. I just mean the ill will and sometimes hostility towards him.

[spud_gun]

Not sure I agree with you Shaggy, well not on my part anyway. For me Khan is still making the same mistakes. His defence is extremely poor, he really needs to work on this and keep a tight guard. He still tends to drop his hands when he punches and leaves his chin exposed. The one credit I can give Khan last night is that he did try to hold on to Diaz whenever he got hit and troubled instead of trading like he would do under Roach. I really don't see him improving all that much in the future if I'm honest. His punch resistance will be his downfall. Eventually the big shots he's taking on his chin will take it's toll. I rate hunter as a trainer but it's going to be difficult trying to get someone to change a style they have adopted for most of their career.

Exciting fighter to watch but he has the boxing IQ of a newt.

[Tee]

Mate...no-one disagrees with or doubts that. He's not elite level and has too many obvious flaws. I just mean the ill will and sometimes hostility towards him.

I think he is elite level tbf. There is just so much more of a stigma here when good fighters lose compared to in the States.

[Shaggy]

Yeah I didn't word that very well....just meant that there will always be a few a fair bit too good for him. IMO.