Barrera not mincing words about Amir Khan
by Scott Christ on Mar 3, 2009 2:46 PM EST
in Boxing News Analysis
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PrintMarco Antonio Barrera is more than confident in his chances to beat young Englishman Amir Khan on March 14 in Manchester. He didn't beat around the bush:
I will beat Khan because I have more experience than him and I’m still a much better fighter than he is. Khan is tall and has a good jab and hand speed. He is a good young fighter but there’s nothing he can do between now and March 14 to surpass my skills and experience.
This is becoming the prevalining thought among many of us, I think. Barrera isn't who he used to be, but...eh, I don't wanna sound mean, but who the hell is Amir Khan? Really. Even if you like the kid (and I do), why would you pick him to win this fight?
He'd have to be exceptionally heavy-handed (he's not), or an A+ offensively (he's not), or Barrera would have to have a bad beard (he does not). Barrera has never been a huge puncher and isn't now for sure, but Willie Limond can't crack a peanut and put Khan on his behind. Breidis Prescott, who we've twice seen struggle to varying degrees against B- or C+ fighters on Friday Night Fights, knocked him out in one round.
Khan can beat Barrera, sure. He has to overwhelm him with speed, pray that Freddie Roach has improved his defense dramatically, and nail Barrera hard and early. He can do that. But I just don't see it -- Barrera's a better fighter than Khan, even faded. He's not being arrogant, I just think he's speaking the truth. Barrera took this fight because he knows it's a big win for him to knock off a young guy like this, even though we all know Khan's deficiencies.
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Here goes nothing...
…here went nothing. Wait what just happened?
"Count on us! We sponsored Margarito for several years." - CEMEX
Everything was wrong for that fight!
I watched the full 30 secs of that and i can’t help but think Khan was all wrong physically for that fight! I hear that Freddie Roach has had to change the bodyshape to make him more punch resistant. I am not saying that Khan will win as Berrera is an all time great but if Khan can start brightly and use the quick effective jab he could gain confidence and anything is possible!
change the bodyshape?
color me dubious.
by boxingstudent on Mar 3, 2009 4:44 PM EST up reply actions
Change the bodyshape!
Khan looked top heavy in that fight! I hear roach is making his legs stronger, i think he will look phisically diffrent against Barrera. Still Khan will still need to fight as close to his best to even compete!
I disagree
I doesn’t happen too much, but I think Khan outlands the hell out of Barrera and uses his huge reach and size advantages to bully Barrera around. Khan’s weak points are his defense and his chin, and while Barrera should be able to exploit Khan’s defense, I doubt he exploits the beard. Barrera hasn’t shown true KO power since he was a 126 pounder, and he had trouble pulling the trigger against aggressive Pacquiao (not as much against counterpuncher Marquez). As long as Khan’s chin is good enough that he doesn’t get taken out by Barrera’s relatively weak punches, he should be able to overpower Barrera. I don’t see this being too different from when Khan fought Gairy St. Clair.
That said, Khan’s chin is historically bad, and he still might get starched by Barrera. MAB might have trouble pulling the trigger, but he’s an excellent finisher when he does have someone hurt.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
I just happen to think that Khan just isn’t that good. What tangible things have we seen from Khan that we have be assured of? Not much in my opinion. People who are banking on him to win, seem to believe he has this unbelievable potential for growth. He has potential to grow due to his massive shortcomings as a fighter.
He doesn't have much potential to grow
But he has a well-rounded offensive game, good workrate and superb handspeed. If you were rating his offense and defense on scales of 1 – 100, he’d be a 90 on offense and a 10 on defense. Just against a guy who’s a midget compared to him (like Barrera), he’ll end up landing a lot more punches.
Because his limitations are so bad and are generally physical in nature, he doesn’t have that much room to move up in the world though. He’ll always be able to beat smaller light punchers, and he’ll always lose to bigger hard punchers.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Hey, that sounds familiar...
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
Never count out father time.. That’s barrera’s real opponent here.. He beats that, its good night Khan..
also, the only thing khan has in his bag of tricks is freddie, if anyone can make a fighter be good enough to improve on his weaknesses and take advatage of his opponent’s, its roach.. They could have a perfect game plan by fighting defensively to keep barrera at bay using his reach then when Marco slows down, only then should he start being more aggressive..
but hey, a good game plan could only go so far.. Just ask Andrei Arlovski.. :)
http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/
Arlovski was doing good with Roaches plan
up until he tried a flying knee or what ever and he was promptly knock out. But I think this is part of what you were getting at. The plan has to be good then the fighter has to execute said plan.
exactly. If the perfect plan wasn' t followed properly, then its useless.. :)
http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 4, 2009 8:34 PM EST up reply actions
I really hope Khan can do it, because he really will not have too many places to go if he’s caught and dropped again. Its very hard to be a boxer with his sort of negligible punch resistance. Hopefully he’s far more aware of that and boxes better…I’d pick him, head over heart given that he won’t need to get caught flush to be wobbled…
Boxrec
I know I never miss a chance to slam this wonderful world-wide-website, but has anyone ever read their account of the Prescott-Khan fight? The sheer number of adjectives and ten-penny words in it rivals any Ring FotY winner… it even has two separate video links.
“The road from amateur stardom to a professional world championship really is a boulevard of broken dreams, and I’m afraid to say, Khan’s dream has been broken tonight, that is a bad knockout, goodness me.”
You’d think Prescott had just starched the lovechild of Dempsey and Ali. Unreal.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
i’m not sure why given his most recent outing, his management thought taking on a guy who’s historically tough as nails would be the optimal comeback…….poor management.
Gatti.
Dekkers.
Pele.
Tadahiro Nomura.
Hidehiko Yoshida.
Aoki.
Kang.
Vanderlei.
by theworldsoldestsport on Mar 4, 2009 10:32 AM EST reply actions
cause they think barrera is old and having a win over that name on your resume would revive his career..
http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 4, 2009 8:35 PM EST up reply actions
bingo
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 5, 2009 12:24 AM EST up reply actions
also
In a totally roundabout, half-bullshit way, it would also avenge Barrera beating Hamed.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 5, 2009 12:25 AM EST up reply actions
One, its not his fault he’s been overhyped…in Britain we tend to anyway. Two, it was poor management and a poor fight he fought against Prescott, and he will have tightened up his defence far more this time…plus his management would have been more circumspect when stepping him up again. Barrera’s tough, but Khan has quicker hands and hopefully controls it from distance
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