By Lou Block
I don’t blame Amir Khan if he chooses to leave Freddie Roach, I’ve seen what Roach does as a trainer and I am not impressed because the man teaches no defense at all.
Manny Pacquiao for example has suffered as a fighter, he is not complete because he lacks defense, and now at the peak of his career when he is about to retire he has been exposed in his last few fights as a one dimensional boxer who cannot adjust in the ring.
The main flaw of all Freddie Roach fighters is they lack “DEFENSE”. Not one Freddie Roach fighter knows how to avoid punches, slip shots, set up traps, they just come forward or throw punches to get in and try to jump out as fast as possible.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has horrible defense, he just comes forward and eats punches because he has a huge size advantage over his opponents and will just outwork his opponents. Jorge Linares suffered two horrible TKO losses after training with Freddie Roach, Linares who is a masterful boxer-puncher tried to implement the Pacquiao-Roach style of throwing flurries and getting out, but Linares began to tire against his opponents and got bloodied and eventually stopped after taking too much punishment. Manny Pacquiao who is Roach’s cash cow was exposed already in his last 3 fights, and shown no ability to adjust to boxers who can move, Pacquiao also cannot cut the ring off or set traps like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Bernard Hopkins or Adrien Broner. The slick African American boxer Timothy Bradley put on a clinic of boxing movement, he was able to slip and make Manny miss so many punches, the only punches Pacquiao could land were grazing, and the only damage done was two twisted ankles from Bradley not planting his feet properly when he was backing up.
Amir Khan suffered a devastating knockout loss to Danny Garcia, and it was embarrassing to watch because Khan looked like a fish out of water trying to survive but he didn’t know how to get back in the lake. Khan got hit and instead of grabbing or tying up he was pushing off and trying to create space between him and Garcia, but Garcia kept coming forward landing haymakers because Khan doesn’t have power and doesn’t sit on his punches at all to deliver a proper power shot. Khan still has a chance to improve because he is still very young, and if he fights smart he can win by outboxing his opponents because he has the speed and long reach to do so. But how can he learn defense if his trainer can’t teach it? Roach was a face forward brawler so it’s only natural for him to teach his fighters to be offensive minded brawlers, Pacquiao fights like Roach, but the only difference is Pacquiao has more speed and power than Roach did. Khan is trying to fight like Pacquiao but he doesn’t have the chin or the power to mix it up like that, he is not a brawler he is a boxer and should get as far away from Roach as possible if he wants to become great.
The only reason Freddie Roach got famous is because of Manny Pacquiao, if Roach is great at one thing it’s being an excellent matchmaker who knows how to cherry pick opponents to make his fighters look good, but those days are slowly fading since the boxing fans will no longer put up with the crappy match ups that Roach fighters are taking. Pacquiao was forced to fight a prime Timothy Bradley and lost, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was forced to fight Sergio Martinez because they had no other options, the only fighter in the Roach gym that wants to fight the best and isn’t scared is Amir Khan, and that is why I suggest while he is still young, he should leave Roach and get with a great boxing trainer who can teach him a good defense, someone like Floyd Mayweather Sr., or Emmanuel Steward. Khan needs to act now or else he will become a one dimensional fighter like Manny Pacquiao who made a name by beating up washed up fighters.
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