Amir Khan says Freddie Roach made him predictable, defense is the focus with Virgil Hunter

Amir Khan says that he's going to work with new trainer Virgil Hunter to strengthen his defense, which he now admits has always bean a weakness for him, and says that repetition in the gym with Freddie Roach turned him into a predictable fighter over time.

But he didn't outright slam Roach, either, and paid his former trainer respects in the same quote. From Sky Sports:

"I've got a great offence, but I've never had a trainer to work on my defence. I've always had a poor defence and I think Virgil Hunter can bring the best out of me, hopefully work on the mistakes I make," he said.

Reflecting on his relationship with Roach, he added: "The focus wasn't there as much and we kept on doing the same things in the gym, and that is probably why a lot of fighters that I fought knew exactly what I was going to do.

"I've learned most of the things I have to from Freddie Roach, he is a great trainer and we are always going to be friends."

Khan (26-3, 18 KO) is due back on December 15 against lightweight prospect Carlos Molina (17-0-1, 7 KO), which figures to be a fairly easy bounce-back fight, but with Khan, who knows? He's made so many mistakes in fights that it's easy to envision him making more of them.

Breidis Prescott wasn't supposed to beat him. Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia were both big underdogs, too. If Khan falls back into old habits, the famed "blueprint" is there. Khan can be predictable, and he doesn't recover well if he gets tagged. Working with Hunter is supposed to be about fixing the problems, and defensively, he's fixable in theory. We've seen him change and be successful against Kotelnik and Malignaggi, but it all sort of drifted away from him after that. Khan's ability to change and adapt is the biggest question about his career, even bigger than his chin, since that's not even a question anymore.