Amir Khan Returns to the Ring Saturday Night!
By Faisal “Fayz” Masood
This Saturday on 21st April, Amir Khan will finally step inside the ring after what has been almost two years since his last outing, a loss to the superstar himself now facing a lay off from boxing, Canelo Alvarez. It will also mark almost five years since Khan last fought in his home country of the UK. Returning to his humble beginnings after only recently revealing his lust for the bright lights of Las Vegas and the big names clouded his judgement in accepting a fight against the much bigger Alvarez, Khan takes on Phil Lo Greco in a fight many are waiting to see whether he still has the frightening hand speed and questionable chin which means almost every fight he participates in, becomes like a highlight reel of boxing skills and edge of your seat action.
The fight will also be the 1st time Khan fights as a man beyond the age of 30, seen by some as the tipping point in a boxer’s career, will Khans speed be on the decline, will his reflexes show signs of slowing? Or will the added maturity mean Khan can prevent his ego from engaging in a war and keeping away from the toe to toe trading of punches which has been his downfall in previous defeats. This will be especially important considering some of the words exchanged between the two in the lead up to the fight, will Lo Greco’s words motivate Khan to fight harder and give him more focus or will Khans ego yet again get in the way and cause a lapse of concentration? The role of new trainer Joe Goosen, in the absence of Virgil Hunter will take on an even greater significance.
Will Khans hand also hold up? Having said he was lacking the power in previous years, his hand is now fully healed from the operation which was one of the reasons he was kept out of the ring for so long, if he has added power to go with his speed, he will be an even more dangerous proposition for his opponent but one must have to wonder that if he wants to put more into his punches, there will be some sacrifice in speed.
Khan is no stranger to adversity, having suffered some big knockouts during his career but he has always managed to find a way to come back from the losses and quickly string together some of his best performances. He will be straight on the comeback trail looking for another big name should he come out of Saturdays fight with an impressive display, and with a new promoter alongside him in Eddie Hearn, you can be sure there will be plenty of well known fighters in the mix, and with Khan every fighter knows there is a possibility of a win because of his all out attacking style and his chin.
This leads us nicely onto Phil Lo Greco. Lo Greco was born in Canada and got off to an unbeaten start in his pro career, winning his first 25 fights, but since suffering his first loss to Shawn Porter back in 2013, Lo Greco has been rather inactive, including the Porter loss this will be just his seventh fight in almost five years and three of those have been losses including one against current IBF champion Errol Spence, JR, a fight Lo Greco took on very short notice. Boasting a record of 28-3 15 KO’s, Lo Greco will be confident of pressuring a ring rusty Khan and tagging Khan with some big shots hoping to cause an upset. And an upset it would be, Lo Greco doesn’t hold many advantages over Khan, he is older, less experienced, not as quick and most importantly he is not seen as a big puncher, something Team Khan would have been well aware of when picking the opposition for a comeback fight, but the opportunity for Lo Greco is huge and is not one he would want to miss out on, a win here against Khan would propel him to potential big money fights against a star opponent amongst the loaded welterweight division.
The match up of styles though, does not favour Lo Greco, Khan will look to bring his speed, throwing a lot of straight shots and punches in bunches and moving in and out range to land his shots. Lo Greco is more of a hands high, come forward boxer who looks to unload hooks on his opponents as he gets inside, one thing he does have better than Khan though is his chin, Lo Greco despite taking plenty of big hits from the likes of Porter and Spence JR, was never knocked out(he was stopped on his feet against Spence, JR) but with Khans style of fighting, the problem will be more punch accumulation rather than one hit knock out power, if Lo Greco continues to plod forward he will be in for a long night and a likely wide points loss, but with Khans chin, he will hoping to time him coming in and land a big shot of his own, there is always that chance with Khan….
Check out Fayz’s available books for download on Amazon. He also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.
Strength and Conditioning for Boxing – Workout Hits to get you Fighting Fit
The Boxing Cheat Sheet – Your Ultimate Guide to Ring Survival
[si-contact-form form=’2′]