Garcia Topples Khan

By Kieran Mulvaney

Amir Khan - Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland

There was some talk, before Amir Khan stepped into the ring with Danny Garcia at the Mandalay Bay on Saturday night, that with a victory he could not only erase last December’s controversial loss to Lamont Peterson, but potentially even set himself up for a December megafight with Floyd Mayweather.

One huge counter left hook from Garcia was all it took to blow that idea to pieces.

Suddenly it is the undefeated but unheralded Garcia who is talking about the big money fights, and Khan who is looking at a career that has suddenly reached a crossroad.

Khan started brightly, landing long right hands behind a swift and stiff jab. The difference in hand speed was apparent, Khan’s immense advantages making Garcia’s punches look ponderous and painfully slow. But Garcia, despite looking slightly overwhelmed in the early going, kept his composure. Although a Khan left hook opened a cut by his right eye, his defense was tight, and as the minutes ticked by, he almost visibly grew in confidence.

In the third, Garcia gave up trying to exchange combinations with his speedier opponent and began targeting his body with thudding shots. But it was a shift back to Khan’s sometimes suspect chin that paid dramatic dividends. 

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Compubox Analysis: Khan vs. Garcia

By Compubox

Eight months after losing his WBA and IBF junior welterweight straps to Lamont Peterson, Amir Khan will seek to lift Danny Garcia's newly-acquired WBC strap Saturday in Las Vegas. Will "King Khan" get to wear another crown or will the undefeated Garcia add Khan's name to his growing list of prominent victims that include Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt and Erik Morales? Their CompuBox histories provide the following points to consider:

Eroding Defense?: In his last three fights against Peterson, Zab Judah and Paul McCloskey, Khan has become an easier target for their power punches. The aforementioned trio landed a combined 42.3% of their power shots, led by Peterson's 46.3% in December. During that span, Khan has been operating "underwater," defined as one whose opponents land at a higher percentage. In Khan's case, his last three opponents have landed nearly six percentage points more overall (33.6%-27.8%) and nearly nine percentage points more in power shots (42.3%-33.7%).

Conversely, in the four fights previous to that (Marcos Maidana, Paul Malignaggi, Dmitriy Salita and Andriy Kotenik), Khan enjoyed substantial percentage leads -- a combined 33.9%-22.3% overall, 27.4%-16.6% jabs and 41.7%-25.8% power. At 25, is Khan already showing signs of slippage, or is this a mere bump in the road?

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Fans Weigh In: Khan the Heavy Favorite, But @DANNYSWIFT Has His Supporters

Amir Khan, Danny Garcia - Photo Credit: Gene Blevins - Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions

In what's likely to be his last fight at 140-pounds, Amir Khan hopes to leave his impression on the junior welterweight division—and the fans predict that he will. Our HBO Boxing Facebook poll had 56% of respondents forecast a KO for Khan and 26% who thought he'd win by decision. Only 150 out of 905 people thought Danny Garcia would emerge victorious. On HBO.com Michael Ray A. wrote, "Khan by UD. Too tall, too fast. Don't see Danny giving Amir any trouble throughout the fight." There is one place where Garcia gained traction—@DANNYSWIFT has a formidable Twitter following. And while his 12,500 followers are dwarfed by @AmirKingKhan's 1.1 million, they're an active bunch. Many of them echoed the sentiment of @aboxingfan who tweeted: "Garcia wins by tko on a counter left hook."

Here's some more of what you had to say:

• Expecting the first two rounds to make it the fight of the year. Khan comes out to send a message and Garcia returns to make claim that he is the alpha dog. But then after that Khan's hand speed will out dazzle Garcia. Khan with a stoppage before the 10th. - V. Varrichio (HBO.com)
• Khan is getting Danny out of there inside the distance. Speed of Morales and Campbell combined won't match @AmirKingKhan - @MrTactic (Twitter)
• Garcia 11th round KO Philly left hook  - @spannymont (Twitter)
• @HBOboxing khan wins too fast to powerful more experience in these big fights! hbo is the best for boxing! respect from England - @juangonzalvez (Twitter)
• I think this is a chance to see how good Garcia really is. Khan can't afford to drop the ball here. I think Khan wins this by decision. – Seven Thirty (HBO.com)
• @AmirKingKhan comes out fast, picks him apart with hand speed, 6th round TKO - @Neezy___ (Twitter)
• Garcia is a good young fighter but Khan is that much better. Khan by decision. - @cjujitsu (Twitter)
• Garcia looked pretty good against a seasoned Morales, but is obviously going to have a very strategic plan in place, Garcia's overall boxing skillset isn't quite up there with Khan's, but Garcia can pose problems in terms of using the correct strategy. – Riky Ricardo (HBO.com)

Peterson Behind Him, Khan Looks Ahead to Garcia

By Kieran Mulvaney

Freddie Roach, Amir Khan - Photo Credit: Will Hart

Two months later than planned, and against a different opponent than originally anticipated, Amir Khan will climb into the ring at the Mandalay Bay on Saturday night for his first fight since losing two junior welterweight belts to Lamont Peterson in Washington, DC last December.

Despite that loss, the WBA -- one of the sanctioning bodies whose titles he surrendered in a controversial split decision loss to Peterson -- has agreed to wrap one of its belts around him again even before he steps between the ropes on Saturday. The reason offered by the WBA for its move is that “no boxer [who] has tested positively for prohibited substances can … retain a title” – a reference to the fact that on May 8, eleven days before he was scheduled to fight a rematch with Khan, Peterson was revealed to have tested positive for synthetic testosterone.

The likelihood of Nevada granting Peterson a boxing license in light of that kind of news was about as high as Mike Tyson returning to the ring and fighting at welterweight; and so the fight was canceled. But Khan was not without an opponent for long, as into the breach stepped young Danny Garcia, himself the holder of a 140-pound trinket (this one bestowed by the WBC) that he secured by way of a hard-fought victory over veteran Erik Morales in Houston in March.

For Khan, the changes meant a switch of focus away from the white whale who had disturbed his sleep ever since that eventful night in the nation’s capital. It also meant an additional two months of work and preparation.

The change of course had undoubtedly interrupted a long-planned shot at revenge that he and trainer Freddie Roach had been plotting in detail, he conceded.

“I had to go back to the drawing board and think about what I was going to do, and how we were going to come back and knock out Lamont Peterson,” he said recently. “And that’s what we were aiming for. We made the fight, and then after I trained out of my skin – I’ve never trained so hard in my life – ten days before the fight I get the call that he had failed the test.”

But despite that, he sees similarities between Peterson’s style and Garcia’s, similarities that made it that much easier to pick up where he had left off when his preparations for a Peterson rematch had been so rudely interrupted.

“You have to remember that Lamont Peterson threw a lot of body shots in our fight,” he pointed out. “Danny Garcia throws a lot of body shots. Garcia’s an orthodox fighter; Lamont Peterson is orthodox. Peterson likes coming forward, Garcia likes to come forward. So technically, tactically, all we have to do is tinker with a few little things. We know what to do. That’s not really a problem.”

Whatever does happen, this may be the final time we see the Briton at this particular fighting weight. He has been around so long already – he won silver at the Olympic Games eight years ago – that it is a shock to realize he is still only 25, a young and growing man. As a result, larger challenges lie ahead.

“It’s getting harder to make the weight. I’m filling out. I’m getting bigger, and older and more mature, so it’s probably the best time to move up, and hopefully win another world title at welterweight,” he revealed. “That’s my ambition.”

Danny Garcia to Test Amir Khan

Amir Khan, Danny Garcia - Photo Credit: Will Hart

There’s no denying that Amir Khan is a superior pure boxer to Danny Garcia. He moves extremely well, and he has faster hands than his Philadelphia adversary. Add to this the fact that the slow-footed Garcia will be standing right in front of Khan all night, and it would appear he is tailor-made for the Brit.

Sometimes looks can be deceiving, however, says Bob Papa, the HBO commentator for ‘Boxing After Dark.’ “Khan may have more skills and ability, and Danny Garcia may be ready-made for Khan, but don’t ever discount Garcia’s heart,” Papa says. “Heart and drive can make up for less skills and boxing ability. Gatti was the poster child for that.”

The undefeated Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs) has demonstrated over his career that his will to win, like Gatti’s, has enabled him to beat opponents considered better than him. The 24-year-old Garcia was the underdog in his last two fights, most recently against Erik Morales and before that Kendall Holt, yet he came out victorious.

“Garcia wasn’t given a great chance against Morales,” Papa says, “because Morales had looked good in his previous fight on his comeback trail. But Garcia’s heart helped him to win. Holt was thought to still have enough left to keep winning, but Garcia wouldn’t be denied. Garcia beats guys he’s not supposed to beat because he just keeps coming.”

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