Amir Khan-Breidis Prescott fight

[MarkB]

Firstly, if you haven't seen this fight yet and are planning to, leave this thread now, as it does contain spoilers.

So, how many people watched the Khan-Prescott fight? How many were surprised at the result?

I left a quick comment in the shoutbox about it, but here's some actual thoughts on the whole thing.

First off, I am, and have been, a big Amir Khan fan, since I first saw him fight in the Olympics. I've been following his progression from having a small body, being lightning fast but having little power in 2005 until now, where he's developed into a great body with help from a great conditioning routine, having a huge increase in power while still maintaining most of his speed and agility. With that said, there were so many things wrong about this fight that makes you wonder who Amir was listening to in his camp, and what is going on in the background.

The one word I can use to describe this fight is change. There was something different about it, it didn't feel like an Amir Khan fight, to me. Ever since the opponent was announced and his record and style became known, I knew it was trouble right away, and followed the build-up closely to see if there was any hints of how the fight would go. Leading up to it, Sky Box Office showed 4 parts of the build-up, in which you saw where both fighters had came from and their achievements so far - similar to the 24/7 shows that preceded the Hatton-Mayweather fight, although not as in-depth or personal. Before the fight, and after seeing the build-up, I was worried. Something wasn't right...Amir seemed a little too relaxed and while still talking the same game, his eyes and body language was different. I put it down to the new coaching regime and maturity and tentatively predicted a Khan stoppage in the 6th or 7th round, but also mentioned to a friend that if that didn't happen, I could see a 3rd round TKO for Prescott.

As for the event itself, here's some points that I picked up on.

* Change. The word I can use to describe the fight. Why? Too many of them. The Khan camp has undergone huge change recently, with Oliver Harrison having been fired before his last fight due to some misunderstanding in the camp and the whole thing stank of a mountain-out-of-a-molehill situation. Harrison was great for Khan and suited his style well. In the Gomez fight, Khan employed Dean Powell for training duties before a full-time trainer was hired, and Jorge Rubio took that job, with Powell resigned to co-trainer. Also, Khan's contract with ITV expired and he signed up to Sky Sports, a subscription-based channel who would show the fight on a PPV basis. So, instead of any viewer in the UK who has a TV set and an aerial being able to watch the fight, not only would they now have to have a high-priced subscription to Sky, they would also have to fork out a lump sum to see this one fight, similar to the PPV events in the U.S. So, 1 fight, 3 big changes. Trainer, camp, and TV. That, coupled with the fact that this was Khan's hardest challenge yet and was his first very serious world challenge, he did not need all those changes. One at a time for each fight, maybe, but those are just too many changes for one huge event.

* The ring walk. Amir has always come out to the ring surrounded by his trainers and entourage. Not all necessary, but it's good to have someone with you on the way to the ring, rather than a large, lonely walk, by yourself, surrounded by thousands of screaming fans and with your opponent looking down at you entering the ring. When he entered the ring, himself, he then met his trainer and a few in-ring guys. The question I have here is "Why the change?" Why break a habit that has been going for 18 pro fights?" How a fighter enters the ring can make or break a fight, and is not something you want to put down to chance. Also, when on his way to the ring, he didn't look confident. We're all used to the old stony expression of a fighter ready to do battle, and Amir didn't have it. He didn't have what everyone knows as "the eye of the tiger". Looking back on it, the whole fight reminded me a lot of the fight scene in Rocky 3 where Balboa fights Lang with Mickey back in the dressing room after the scuffle. He didn't look as if he wanted to be there. To me, it looked like he had seen the power Prescott has, and was at least a little worried himself.

* Starting the fight, Khan knew Prescott was a big puncher. The guy had an 89% KO ratio and has widely-reporting punching power. Khan had an inch and a half reach advantage over Prescott, despite the Colombian being an inch taller. Is that the type of guy you run out to at the first bell? No. You move around, stick your jab, move in for the crosses, and wear him down in the clinches and with body shots to bring his hands down. As soon as the opening bell went, Khan was half-way across the ring to meet Prescott. Maybe it was his inexperience showing and he wanted to show that he could take the big punches early, based on the fact that the major criticism for him has been that he doesn't have much of a chin. Well, he failed that test, and showed some very poor strategy with it.

* Within a few seconds of the opening bell, Prescott caught Khan with a good jab. Khan's legs stiffened immediately, and he felt his opponent's power for the first time. Common sense: what do you do? Move out of range, then reply with your own jab and follow the game plan. What did Khan do? Stood there, then tried to move closer to Prescott. You have a 1 and a half inch reach advantage - just why would you do that? He then tries to trade punches with Prescott and gets caught with a decent right hook to the body a few seconds later, which, although not as powerful as it could have been, should have served as a wake-up call. Again, what does Khan do? The same again.

* Next, he's caught with a good left hook. His legs stiffen again, his self-defence kicks in and his brain tells him to move back. He starts to step back as if he's going to move back and get away from Prescott, as he should do, then the ego and machismo kicks in, he over-rides his brain, and attempts to come forward again, despite not being "with it", then is caught with a very good right cross, then a huge left hook that knocked him to the canvas.

* Here, the inexperience shows again. Any veteran boxer, or one who watches enough fights, will tell you that in a fight where you have a mandatory 8 count, when you're knocked down, take the 8. Don't get up right away after a good shot, take a knee and you'll be able to get your head together better than if you're standing and attempting to balance your whole body. What did Khan get up at? Three. Sometimes boxers get up early because they have been truly rattled and they don't trust themselves enough to keep track of the 8 count and don't want to be counted out. That may have been the case here, I don't know, but someone in his corner should have been shouting to let him know the situation and reiterating the referee's count. The fact that got up at 3 shows that that doesn't seem to have been happening, which, again, goes back to the trust built between a trainer and fighter. Again, change isn't always a good thing - especially not before a big fight.

* As he got up, he was wobbly but by 8, he was aware enough to nod to the referee that he was OK and put his hands up. He wasn't OK. I've seen the same expression many times before, and it does not come from being totally aware of your surroundings - it comes, as the term goes here in Scotland, when you're "mangled". The fact that he couldn't even speak to the referee to say "I'm OK" or "Yes" and instead, had his jaw locked in self-defence mode was a sign that the end was coming.

* As he moved forward to Prescott again, his hands were still low and he went into attack mode to avenge his knock-down. Again, something that experience teaches is that after a knock-down, unless you know your opponent is seriously hurt and you're OK, you don't go running after him. You move, clinch, dance, duck, bob, weave, anything you need to do to buy some time and get your head together and make it out of the round. This is something Khan should have learned 3 or 4 fights ago.

* Not much can be said about the second knock-down - partially because the referee was blocking the camera angle and partially because Prescott, as is his style, was throwing huge, hooking punches, designed to knock people out. Khan walked right into it. He was caught with a little clipping right hook, then moved back with his hands all over he place and everywhere but where they should have been - around his ears in the "earmuff" defence - while trying to trade shots with Prescott again, then took a left hook that didn't really land - it may have clipped his neck just under his jaw, but wasn't a big shot - but this threw him totally off-balance and he fell straight back onto his shoulder blades in his own corner. From there, he had about as much chance of winning the fight as a bull-fighter in the middle of Crip territory.

In defeat, Khan didn't say much. He said he made a "silly mistake" twice, if I remember correctly, but didn't say what it was. Also, I counted a lot more than one, however, he did say he would look at the tape and would come back.

To say that Prescott only won because Khan made some very bad fundamental mistakes is harsh - even if Khan were perfect, I still believe he'd have had more than his share of trouble with Prescott, but all credit to the Colombian. He took advantage of Khan's perceived inexperience on the big stage and will now skyrocket in the rankings and until a rematch takes place, if there is one, he'll probably start being mentioned with the names that Khan was looking forward to fighting in the coming 18 months. Instead, Khan will now have to take on at least 1 or 2 domestic challengers in order to regain his confidence and learn from his mistakes (again), before being mentioned on the world stage any time soon.

As for Prescott, the one thing that I love to see in any sport is true sportsmanship. For all that was said of Mike Tyson both in and out of the ring, I can recount the multiple times where he's given someone an absolute pasting in the ring, only to run across and help them to their feet and make sure they were OK after the referee counted them out or the fight was stopped. At the weight-in yesterday, Prescott offered his hand to Khan and the two exchanged a handshake. After the fight, Prescott approached Khan to console him, and after the decision was announced, Prescott lifted and held Khan aloft in the air to obtain him some consolation from the crowd. I can safely say my eyes were opened to a new, exciting young fighter tonight, and now have another career to follow, in addition to the hopeful return of Amir Khan. For Khan fans, we'll hope that Breidis Prescott won't be the Marco Antonio Barrera of his career, in the same way that the man so often mentioned in comparison to Khan, Naseem Hamed, took a loss, then came back for one fight, won a points decision, then was not seen in a professional ring again.

The new lightweight champion of the Commonwealth, Breidis Prescott. Best of luck to him.

(Awaiting tl;dr.)

[ro290190]

tl;dr

[DeuceBlades]

First off, I never really liked Khan, but Prescott is all class. I read his story about coming up in Columbia, dodging gangs and kidnappings and that sort of stuff. Hes a tough cat, and he is all class at the same time.

Two huge thumbs up on the article Mark :wtg: