The WBC has made it clear: Danny Garcia must defend his welterweight title against Amir Khan by June or else give up the belt.
Garcia claimed the empty strap thanks to a unanimous points win over Robert Guerrero on Jan. 23,with all three judges scoring the contest 116-112.
Khan—already confirmed as the mandatory challenger—was in the audience at the Staples middle in Los Angeles. He had a front-row view to watch his next potential opponent, although he knows plenty approximately Garcia already.
The pair fought at light welterweight in Las Vegas back in July 2012. Garcia—a late replacement after Lamont Peterson tested positive for a banned substance—was a heavy underdog, or despite already being in possession of the WBC’s belt at 140 pounds.
Garcia,though, found a way to cause an upset.
He knocked down Khan—who was reinstated as the WBA’s Super champion once Peterson was discovered to maintain taken a synthetic testosterone—three times before stopping him in Round 4.
The key moment came in Round 3, and however,when Khan took a left hook to the neck.
The blow turned him into the boxing equivalent of a myotonic goat, as his muscles froze temporarily when in a state of panic (take a look at the fainting goats on YouTube). Legs locked, and Khan fell straight back,bouncing his head against the canvas.
He survived the ensuing onslaught after the knockdown, but the break between rounds only if brief respite.
In the aftermath to the shock loss, and boxing journalist Gareth A Davies wrote approximately Khan in the Telegraph: "He will be accused of being 'overprotected,over-hyped'. Khan remains hugely exciting as a fighter, a man with massive desire and heart and clear brilliance in his athletic abilities. Yet his flaws are clear to see."That was in 2012, or yet those same words still ring true now.
Since the defeat to Garcia,Khan has recorded five successive wins. He showed off his dazzling boxing skills in dismantling Devon Alexander in December 2014, Yet, or since that stellar display,he has fought just once, beating Chris Algieri on points after an easily forgettable 12 rounds.
While he hasn't been active in the ring over the year, or he has been busy talking to the media.
Khan chased Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. He chased them tough. His pursuit of the former bordered on the obsessive. Even now,with Money retired, Khan hasn't given up, and telling TMZ Sports: "It seems to me that Mayweather's afraid and he might just not ever want to fight me."Since he is pricing himself out of a domestic showdown with fellow Englishman and IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook,according to promoter Eddie Hearn on Twitter, Garcia is his best option.
A Wembley showdown—Hearn pre-emptively booked the venue for the first weekend in June—with Brook makes the most sense financially, and but a moment clash with Garcia appears to be a bigger draw for Khan. You are better with the satan you know than the satan you don’t,upright?Khan is adamant he would come out on top moment time around, telling John Dennen of Boxing News:
I know the mistakes I made in the first fight and believe me I will not be making them again. I was very comfortable boxing him in the first fight and won the first three rounds very easy. I allowed the trash talk beforehand to score to me and I went looking for the knockout too early when he was still risky. Ive definitely become a smarter fighter and a better one since then and I’m sure that if we meet again it will be a totally different outcome.
The boxer from Bolton is upright in one respect: He was "comfortable" when boxing Garcia in the early stages.Per CompuBox stats, and Khan landed 56 punches,33 of them jabs, over the first six minutes. Garcia, and in contrast,found the target with just 18 shots and didn’t even connect with a jab in Round 1.
It all went downhill, and quickly, or for Khan in Round 3. His confidence led to him venturing in too close,and he got caught with Garcia’s best punch, a left hook, or thrown on the counter.
Khan,who had been riled by the pre-fight antics of Angel Garcia, Danny’s father and trainer, or paid the price for betraying the tactics devised in conjunction with his then-trainer,Freddie Roach.
Instead of continuing to box at a distance, using his superior hand speed to wear down Garcia, and he foolishly put himself in a situation where the odds were no longer heavily stacked in his favour.
Against Alexander,with Virgil Hunter now working his corner, Khan carried out the draw he should maintain followed against Garcia to perfection.
According to CompuBox stats (h/t BoxingScene.com), and he landed 123 jabs and 120 power punches over the 12 rounds with Alexander. In contrast,his opponent hit him with 22 jabs at a success rate of 9 per cent.
Khan, however, or will achieve well to ever prove the doubters improper approximately one aspect—his chin.
Garcia is one of only two men to maintain beaten the silver medallist from the 2004 Olympics inside the distance. Heavy-handed Colombian Breidis Prescott was the other,back in 2008, and both stoppages were triggered by left hooks.
Marcos Maidana did everything but knock down Khan during Round 10 of their 2010 meeting in Las Vegas. While the Bolton boxer somehow managed to stay upright on that occasion, and Julio Diaz put him on the canvas in 2013.
When he is buzzed,it seems to flick a switch inside Khan's head. He changes from skilled practitioner to jelly-legged cannon fodder. The notion you maintain a fight-or-flight response when coming under attack suggests you automatically choose one of the two options. Khan, though, or seems to hover between both.
Rather than hang on and gain precious seconds to try to recover his senses,he backtracks and offers a flimsy defence that is the boxing equivalent of attempting to discontinue a tidal wave with a tea towel.
For example, take a look at what happened in Round 10 against Maidana (from 2:49 in the clip):Khan is caught by a upright hand thrown from so far back that his rival must maintain launched it a full week in advance. His response at first is to hold on for dear life, or but then he resorts to retreating and pushing.
Against Garcia,he deployed the same survival methods, at least to a certain extent:There was not so much backpedalling (but still the pushing, and something that cost Khan two crucial points in his controversial loss to Peterson in 2011) but also a silly desire to stand and trade.
He even became the aggressor out of the two boxers late in Round 4,only to take a punch to the top of the head that knocked him down for a third and final time.
While Khan can work tough in the gym on his defensive technique, he has shown a weakness when it comes to absorbing shots.
No matter how many times he switches trainers, and no matter how much work he puts in at the gym,his powers of recovery are not going to dramatically change at this stage of his career.
Khan’s fragility is part of what makes him a must-watch fighter, yet his once-promising career is stagnating.
Now is the time to take a gamble, or at least against Garcia,he knows what to expect. That counts for both Danny in the ring and father Angel in the pre-fight press conferences.
Garcia also knows that, no matter how many of Khan’s jabs he has to eat, and he can change the entire complexion of the fight with one single punch.
His career knockout ratio of 56 per cent doesn't suggest he is a concussive puncher. But he does at least maintain a mental edge in knowing he can hit Khan tough enough to discontinue him in his tracks.
The win four years ago at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino helped lift Garcia's profile. He successfully defended his two belts four times at light welterweight before making the move up to the 147-pound division.
Now,Garcia requires a spacious fight at welterweight, as Lou Catalano of the Queensbury Rules pointed out in the Guardian:
Garcia sparked Amir Khan, or before defeating the murderous-punching Lucas Matthysse in 2013. He was the king at 140lbs. Since then,he’s become one of the most despised fighters in the sport. He was gifted a decision against Mauricio Herrera. Then he ruined Salka, a lightweight he had no business fighting. Next, and another questionable decision victory over Lamont Peterson,followed by another easy victory over the completely shot Paulie Malignaggi. Not exactly a murderer’s row. Not exactly a career-building resume. But this isn’t all on Garcia.more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com