Boxing

[Doc_Piptorious]

Amir Khan will box on after his devastating defeat by Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and says a rematch against Danny Garcia is top of his wish list.

The Briton, 29, was knocked out in the sixth round when fighting for Alvarez's WBC middleweight crown in Las Vegas.

Khan, who jumped two weight divisions to fight Alvarez on Saturday, is the mandatory challenger for Garcia's WBC welterweight belt.

"It is the easiest fight to make and it's at my natural weight," said Khan.

"It would be nice to make that fight in the UK but I don't think he'd come. But we have the same advisor in Al Haymon so we'll chat and take it from there.

"I'm in the peak of my career, my stock has definitely risen and I still have a lot left in me. I didn't really take a lot of punishment, just that one big punch."
BBC

Garcia is a belt holder, why would he need to come to the UK. It is not as though he is a paper champion that travels for cash and gets fed to a prospect. Anyone that wants his belt will be going to him in New York or Vegas.


Garcia would be a very good opponent for Khan, in terms of going against a quality boxer, but Garcia is a hell of a lot more rounded a boxer now than he was when he stopped Khan in four rounds in 2012.


Plus he is now not a fighter that you can look at and say "oh he can be outboxed and frustrated" or "he can be worried with power" as he is a very balanced fighter with good technique, good adaptability, decent power without being a true banger, good chin, good stamina, and well able to go to war when he has to.

Garcia also has an impressive record in terms of being able to meet an opponent on the opponent's terms. He can go technique to technique, he can brawl, he can go toe to toe with the big puncher and he can also carry out a game plan for a full fight against a big hitter.


If Khan meets Garcia in the ring again, I think Garcia would have to be heavily favoured to beat him again and it would probably be by stoppage again.


Garcia vs Thurman is the one I would like to see at Welterweight

[Zapater]

That's the thing I like about Garcia, he's no frills but he's good at everything. Not the fastest, strongest, biggest puncher, but just above average at everything. If he were a footballer he'd be Diego Milito. When he beat Morales I thought he was fairly average (and relied on his cunt of a father's big mouth) but he's come on leaps and bounds since then. Having said that his recent fights are also pretty disappointing and needs a step up. He got lucky against Lamont Peterson, the decision could have gone either way. I personally thought Peterson edged it by 2 rounds.

His bout with Lucas Matthyse was very impressive. He displayed a strong chin, good defence, smart boxing and that he can return under pressure.

[Doc_Piptorious]

That's the thing I like about Garcia, he's no frills but he's good at everything. Not the fastest, strongest, biggest puncher, but just above average at everything. If he were a footballer he'd be Diego Milito. When he beat Morales I thought he was fairly average (and relied on his cunt of a father's big mouth) but he's come on leaps and bounds since then. Having said that his recent fights are also pretty disappointing and needs a step up. He got lucky against Lamont Peterson, the decision could have gone either way. I personally thought Peterson edged it by 2 rounds.

His bout with Lucas Matthyse was very impressive. He displayed a strong chin, good defence, smart boxing and that he can return under pressure.

That was a hell of a win as Matthyse is a serious hitter and a pretty good technical boxer when he takes that approach. Been on the wrong side of a couple of close calls himself.

Do like watching Matthyse fight as he is durable, skilled and always brings that threat of a big stoppage. Not afraid of going in against dangerous opponents either.


Agree that Garcia's recent fights have been somewhat perfunctory, but he does go through spells of just getting across the line and then when put in against a supposed genuine threat, he ups his game three or four levels.

Once thing that is certain is that his 32 fight unbeaten streak is no fluke, and he really does have a wonderful in ring mentality to go with his good all round abilities. Never seems to panic or get rattled even when under pressure and has the smarts to adapt quickly mid round to what his opponent's game plan is whereas some boxers will plough the same furrow until their corner tells them what to change.

[spud_gun]

Garcia has fought some absolute **** in recent years. Hisatchmakers should be ashamed of themselves.

[Chris]

Garcia has fought some absolute **** in recent years. Hisatchmakers should be ashamed of themselves.

And he's lost a few of them aswell!! Now he's talking of Berto, dunno if he's just waiting for Floyd to come out of retirement or what but it's really ****.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Garcia has fought some absolute **** in recent years. Hisatchmakers should be ashamed of themselves.

His last ten fights from the past four years (seven of those came in the past three years)

Morales
Khan
Morales (rematch)
Judah
Matthysse
Herrera
Salka
Peterson
Malignaggi
Guerrero


The Salka bout should never have happened, Malignaggi was no great shakes as an opponent (although funnily enough Khan often gets lauded for beating Malignaggi), and Herrera was nothing more than filler.


That still leaves him with seven credible to good opponents from ten bouts, so not a bad return at all. I see the wins over Morales as credible as Morales was faded but not **** and Garcia looked very raw back then and nothing like showing the all round ability he has today.


He does need to step up the level of opponent again though, but he has shown enough in his career to date to suggest that he will be able to mix it (and probably beat) with the better fighters in the division

[Doc_Piptorious]

And he's lost a few of them aswell!! Now he's talking of Berto, dunno if he's just waiting for Floyd to come out of retirement or what but it's really ****.

Don't think he lost a few of them at all. The only one in which I think he stole a result was the Peterson bout. I reckon Peterson won that fight by a few clear rounds and got robbed on the cards.

Against Herrera it was tight but don't think Herrera did enough to win. Maybe Garcia stole a win from a draw in it but don't think he lost it.

[Chris]

Herrera was a complete robbery, no doubt about it. And going back further, Theophane beat him but he's one of these lucky fighters that just has to see the final bell to get the win.

[Doc_Piptorious]

TBH I cannot remember the Theophane fight at all so cannot comment either way on it.


I think Garcia is the type of boxer who, especially earlier in his career, is clever enough with his work to catch the judges eyes in such a manner that it sways things his way in a tight bout, but he still has had to have the ability to hang in there in those tight bouts and he has shown that against the better fighters he faced that he can step it up a few levels.

As things stand at welter I would pick him to beat two of the three other belt holders.

[labourRed]

No love for Crolla. I thought he handled a tricky Barroso extremely well.

Barroso went all in for the first four and Crolla was still standing in front of him. An empty tank with six rounds to go and your opponent walking you down must be a very lonely place, no wonder he resigned so readily.

Garcia wallops Khan easily for me. I just can't buy into the hype with Khan, he's not top-level and never was.

[marcus50bucks]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=P...&v=0W90oJLewLA

Paulie is on the money here. I completely agree with his comments.

By the way how in the hell did one judge have Canelo 4-1 up after 5 rounds! Corrupt feckers. We saw this kind of ****e when one judge scored the canelo v Mayweather a draw

[Vermilion]

Talks a lot of sense does Paulie, very very insightful with his boxing comments generally imo.

[calvoboy]

No love for Crolla. I thought he handled a tricky Barroso extremely well.

Barroso went all in for the first four and Crolla was still standing in front of him. An empty tank with six rounds to go and your opponent walking you down must be a very lonely place, no wonder he resigned so readily.

Garcia wallops Khan easily for me. I just can't buy into the hype with Khan, he's not top-level and never was.

I don't think it's hype so much as that he's just not got the chin or the temperament to match his ability. He's far too skillful for domestic level, and even "contender-level" but he gets found out by the best, and sometimes not even the best if he gets caught flush. So who does he fight? If he wants to continue then personally I think he needs to be active and get a few quick wins on his record once he's fit to fight again, but then he's said himself that he struggles to motivate himself for fights he's expected to win.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I don't think it's hype so much as that he's just not got the chin or the temperament to match his ability. He's far too skillful for domestic level, and even "contender-level" but he gets found out by the best, and sometimes not even the best if he gets caught flush. So who does he fight? If he wants to continue then personally I think he needs to be active and get a few quick wins on his record once he's fit to fight again, but then he's said himself that he struggles to motivate himself for fights he's expected to win.

Think the song remains the same regarding Khan and what he needs to do. He needs to go out and actually beat a top level or close to top level guy. He has never managed that to date and any time he has been in with a top level or close to top of division level guy he has been stopped although against Canelo being stopped was no disgrace.

He can beat all the lower level guys he wants, but until he beats a top guy then his claims to be an elite boxer are nothing more than pie in the sky.

He took a gamble in going against Canelo and it did not pay off. Now he needs to take a similar gamble and try to get into the ring with one of the four main belt holders at welter and actually beat that guy.

Two of them I would fancy his chances against, and beating one of those two could get him into a unification bout against one of the other two.

The one thing Khan does not need imo is to start going in against a string of lower tier fighters again. He has done that for most of his career and if he goes down that route again then all he is going to do is whittle down the time he has left in the game.

Vargas and Brook he should be able to handle and much as I would love to see Brook not get a money fight against Khan, as I think Brook is even more of a hype job, it may be time for Khan to go belt hunting amongst the weaker strap holders in the division and if he beats them then try for one of the top two.

Personally I don't see him beating either of the top two, and think he would get stopped against either , but if I had to pick the one I think he would have the best chance against then that would have to be Garcia.

Thurman whilst having a bit of a mixed bag in terms of who he has fought has something that Khan simply cannot handle and that is natural stopping power coupled with accuracy. Garcia on the other hand is good at everything without being outstanding at any one thing and despite the fact he has a stoppage already over Khan I would give Khan some chance of beating him albeit it would an outside chance.

[calvoboy]

Think the song remains the same regarding Khan and what he needs to do. He needs to go out and actually beat a top level or close to top level guy. He has never managed that to date and any time he has been in with a top level or close to top of division level guy he has been stopped although against Canelo being stopped was no disgrace.

He can beat all the lower level guys he wants, but until he beats a top guy then his claims to be an elite boxer are nothing more than pie in the sky.

He took a gamble in going against Canelo and it did not pay off. Now he needs to take a similar gamble and try to get into the ring with one of the four main belt holders at welter and actually beat that guy.

Two of them I would fancy his chances against, and beating one of those two could get him into a unification bout against one of the other two.

The one thing Khan does not need imo is to start going in against a string of lower tier fighters again. He has done that for most of his career and if he goes down that route again then all he is going to do is whittle down the time he has left in the game.

Vargas and Brook he should be able to handle and much as I would love to see Brook not get a money fight against Khan, as I think Brook is even more of a hype job, it may be time for Khan to go belt hunting amongst the weaker strap holders in the division and if he beats them then try for one of the top two.

Personally I don't see him beating either of the top two, and think he would get stopped against either , but if I had to pick the one I think he would have the best chance against then that would have to be Garcia.

Thurman whilst having a bit of a mixed bag in terms of who he has fought has something that Khan simply cannot handle and that is natural stopping power coupled with accuracy. Garcia on the other hand is good at everything without being outstanding at any one thing and despite the fact he has a stoppage already over Khan I would give Khan some chance of beating him albeit it would an outside chance.

I just fear that without regaining some confidence that he can actually beat a few half-decent fighters, going in against someone close to top level next time out could be career-ending. That was a huge knockout, and I don't buy the argument that "apart from the knockout I didn't take any punishment", that just sounds a bit too much like "apart from the assassination Mrs Lincoln, what did you think of the play".

I'd go for a confidence builder then quickly onto Brook probably. I'd avoid Garcia for a little while.