Boxing: Roach wants Khan to fight flat-footed

By William Mackay: Amir Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach gave away part of the plan for Khan in his rematch against IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson next month in Las Vegas, Nevada. On Sky Sports Ringside,Roach said he wants Khan to stop bouncing like he usually does in his fights, and instead fight flat-footed so he can see what’s going on better. Khan often bounces around the ring and ends up gassed out after the 4th round, forcing him to run, foul and hold the rest of the way when facing quality opposition. Roach also wants Khan to “up jab” when Peterson is in close, meaning coming upwards with the jab towards his head rather than straight to his chest. When Peterson was in close last time, Khan didn’t jab at all and mostly just pulled down on his head and shoved him. With new skills like the ones Roach is talking about, it’s kind of hit or miss. Roach can talk about Khan using these skills against Peterson, but more likely than not, Khan will only use them for the first round and then slip back into his usual running and fouling style of fighting. I don’t see him being able to up jab or fight flat-footed. Indeed, I think the flat-footed fighting by Khan will get him knocked out because it’ll mean he’ll have to stand his ground more than he usually does and I don’t believe his chin is good enough for him to fight a one-on-one battle against Peterson. It doesn’t matter that Peterson isn’t a big puncher, Khan’s chin still isn’t good enough for him to fight flat-footed for long without getting stretched. Roach was strangely silent about Khan’s fouling that he likes to do. He said nothing about Khan’s shoving, pulling down on the head and the headlocks that Khan likes to use. Since Roach isn’t saying anything about them, I have to assume that these tools will still be in place on May 19th. It’ll be up to whichever referee that gets picked out to try and control Khan in the use of these fouls. If not, Peterson is going to have a lot of problems because if you’re fighting a clean fight, and the guy is shoving, pulling down on the head, holding & hitting and putting you in headlocks all night long, that gives the fighter a big advantage. I just hope Peterson’s trainer makes himself heard before the fight when he speaks to the referee about things for him to watch in terms of Khan’s fouling.