Khan to face Molina in December!

Khan sent to the canvas by Danny Garcia in their July fight.

British light-welterweight Amir Khan will face 'up and coming' Mexican-American Carlos Molina in December of this year.

Khan has suffered two consecutive defeats, his last being a devastating knockout loss to unified world champion Danny Garcia, and is looking to get his controversial career back on track. Molina hasn't stopped any of his opponents in the last three years which could mean that Khan's team have been very careful in picking this opponent. If Khan gets knocked out again, his career could potentially be over.

However, Molina, 26, is an undefeated fighter (17-0-1, 7KO's) and despite his slow burning career Khan, 25, believes he is a dangerous opponent for him.

"Molina is a good fighter who is yet to taste defeat, so I know that he will be very dangerous," said Khan. "He's a tricky fighter who possesses a lot of natural speed. I always want to face hungry young fighters and in Molina I'm up against a guy who has ambitions of world title success."

The Bolton-born man has also confirmed that he will now be trained by Virgil Hunter after his split with long-time trainer Freddie Roach earlier this month.

"I'm really pleased that Virgil Hunter is to become my new trainer," Khan added.

"Everyone in boxing knows about his skills and the success that he has enjoyed over the last few years. I'm looking forward to the start of my training camp and working on some new things with him."

"With Virgil in my corner, I know that I can get back to the very top of the light-welterweight decision."

Whilst picking Molina is a very wise and sensible decision for Team Khan, I would have thought that they would have chosen a slightly more well-known fighter. Seeing as this fight is going to take place in America and not back in Bolton where Khan has insisted he wants to fight for so long, it is going to be very hard to sell this fight. It'll attract a relatively big number of fans just because its Khan but nowhere near the scale of his fights with Peterson and Garcia. It's a fight that Khan will most likely win but will it prepare him for the big hitters that he will inevitably face on his way back up to the top?

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Freddie Roach: Pacquiao needs the KO or he'll lose.

Manny Pacquiao (right) & Juan Manuel Marquez (left).

On December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez go head-to-head in the ring for a fourth time.

The results from the three fights have been a draw, a split decision win for Pacquiao and then another win for him, this time by majority decision. However, all three of these fights were very controversial, especially the last two, and a lot of people believe that Marquez deserved to win all three, if not at least two.

This could be seen as an advantage for Marquez heading into their fourth fight as the judges may actually be on his side for once. If a dodgy decision was given to 'Pacman' again then there would be uproar throughout the whole boxing world. Even the Filipino's trainer, Freddie Roach, realises that his fighter may have been a little "lucky" in the previous fights and he believes that Pacquiao will need the knockout if he is to win this fight and prove that he is still up there with the pound-for-pound contenders.

"I've had three chances to come up with the strategy and the style to beat this guy and we haven't done well in any of them and the last one was the worst. Marquez put the muscle on and he kind of landed the power shots in that fight," said Roach. "A lot of people thought we lost that fight... But I need to get Manny to get that killer instinct back. To be pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world, I think we need to knock this guy out. I don't think we'll win a decision regardless of how the fight goes."

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Khan looking set to part ways with Roach!



Khan with trainer Freddie Roach.

Controversial British light-welterweight Amir Khan seems to have finally made a decision on whether or not he will switch to a new trainer for his future fights. The 25-year old is getting tired of having to be second priority to his current trainer Freddie Roach, who also trains Filipino star Manny Pacquiao.

'King' Khan was knocked out in just four rounds in his last fight against Danny Garcia on July 14th. He believes that one of the main reasons he lost this fight was because he was not shown enough attention by his world-class trainer Freddie Roach. Khan's next bout is set for December 15th and he is adamant that he will not let this happen again. Therefore he needs to find a new trainer.

"I'm 25 and not even at my peak yet. I want to make a few changes and am in talks to change trainers at the moment. I am looking at a few names but I don't know if they are available," said Khan in an exclusive interview with the Daily Star.

The Bolton-based star has still not indicated who he is actually most likely to be trained by but at least he has made the decision to move away from Roach. Personally, I think this is the best decision he has ever made. Roach is a world-class trainer, no doubt about it, but Khan is a fighter that needs lots and lots of attention, otherwise he seems to pick up a lot of nasty habits.

One thing you will also notice about Khan from his last few interviews. He is a lot more quiet lately and not spitting out the usual controversial garbage that we are used to hearing from him. Maybe the knockout loss has put him in his place or maybe he has just finally realised that nobody believes half the stuff he says. Anyway, if he continues to act like this, I may end up liking the new Amir Khan!

Calzaghe looking to train Khan...

World class boxing coach Enzo Calzaghe has revealed that he would be more than willing to train former WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan and help rebuild his career.

Khan after his defeat to Danny Garcia.

Khan, 25-years old, suffered a shock knock-out defeat to undefeated WBC champ Danny Garcia last weekend (July 14th) but the Olympic silver medallist claims that his career is far from over. However, he has admitted that some changes need to be made and if his current trainer Freddie Roach cannot commit 100% to training him then he will be looking for another coach.

Enzo Calzaghe, father of super-middleweight ring legend Joe Calzaghe, had his training license reinstated last month after his old one lapsed back in 2009. The 61-year old believes that Khan is a great fighter and just needs the right training.

"My next goal is to talk to Amir Khan and his team," Calzaghe told BBC Sport. "We spoke before, about three years ago. I have always believed Amir is a great fighter, despite what people think. People say he should quit but I don't think he should be quitting. I believe with the right trainer - and my CV speaks for itself - he will be unbeatable."

It's hard to say, but I think this could potentially be a great move for Khan. It's been clear for quite a while now that Khan is never going to reach his full potential whilst Roach is also training Manny Pacquiao and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Roach is a great trainer but just simply doesn't have the time to focus all of his efforts on Khan. 'King' Khan would be Calzaghe's biggest and best fighter so there would be no worries about not getting a lot of focus. If Khan plans to return in December, he is going to have to make a decision soon.

Khan Could Split With Roach, Plans December Return

Khan with trainer Freddie Roach.

Former light-welterweight world champ Amir Khan is seriously considering a change of scenery after his devastating knock-out loss to Danny Garcia last Saturday (July 14th). For many years now, Khan has been training in America at the Wild Card Gym with Freddie Roach. Up until just recently, he believed that moving to the Wild Card was the best decision he ever made.

However, now he believes that although Freddie Roach has improved him as a fight so much, they have to part ways if things do not change. Roach also trains Manny Pacquiao and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, who are both bigger stars than Khan in America. As a result of this, Khan has had to fit his schedule round the other fighters' training plans. The 25-year old Brit believes that this is one of the main reasons that suffered the third defeat of his career in Las Vegas on Saturday.

'King' Khan would love to be able to continue to train at the Wild Card Gym, as he has spent the majority of his career as a fighter there, but he claims this can only happen if Roach commits to spending more time with him. He plans to have a big talk with him very soon.

"It is hard when you are with Manny and have to be No.2," explained Khan. "Every fight is a big fight for me... I'm at the stage where I can make no more mistakes. I need to do things that benefit me and stop thinking about others, which I've been doing my entire life. In the end, it's me who gets in the ring."

"Now is the best time to sort these things out and my team will talk things over with Freddie. I'm sure he will understand because he's been a fighter too."

"I love training in LA and the great sparring I get there. I know we work on the ring things on offence, but we have to work on the defence too... It's about going back to the drawing board and I'm going to have to do that."

Although he has been advised by many to take a very long rest, Khan has revealed that he plans to return to action in December. And ideally he would like a rematch with Garcia in England. Honestly, I can not see this fight happening especially not in England. Khan is going to have to realise that Garcia is in the drivers seat now, and he may have to abide to the American's rules.

"I'd love to have a rematch. There are a few fights available to him, but the big money would be a rematch... It would be brilliant to have that in the UK, December time. I've been fighting away from home for a long time. It's time to go home again.

Bradley shocks the world!

Timothy Bradley with the WBO welterweight title.

Timothy 'Dessert Storm' Bradley has shocked the world and become the new WBO welterweight champion of the world. He done this by beating the man that many believe is the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world today, Manny Pacquiao.

There was controversy right from the off. When the fight was scheduled to start, Bradley was bin his changing room, gloved up and ready to go. However, Pacquiao was nowhere to be found. After a quick search, he was found "stretching his calves" on a treadmill with trainer Freddie Roach. Many people believed that there could have been foul play involved but Pacquiao and Roach claim that he genuinely had to relieve some tension from his legs.

So... The ring walk began 15 minutes late and then we finally got to see the fight that we had all been waiting for. The question on everybody's mind was 'Can Bradley walk the walk as well as talk the talk?'

The first round was close and it looked as though both fighters were momentarily stunned at some points. However, from that round till around the seventh, Pacquiao dominated and Bradley looked very tired. But somehow, the man who prides himself on his 'fight to the death' boxing style brought himself back into the fight and clearly won some of the later rounds.

Seeing as the fight had gone to the scorecards, everybody fought that even if it was close, Pacquiao would be given the decision as he is the bigger star and worth a lot more money. How wrong were we?
Bradley was given the result by a split decision with two judges giving it to him by two rounds. We were witnessing the dethroning of the "P4P King" Manny Pacquiao.

A lot of people were shocked the result as they believed that Pacquiao did enough to win the fight. Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach was really shocked at the decision.

"I thought we won the fight," said Roach. "I thought that was one of the best fights he fought since Cotto. I thought we clearly, clearly won the fight. I think [the judges] had their eyes closed... I didn't see that many close rounds. I like knockouts and when he gave the eleventh round away, I said, "Manny go out there and finish this guy.".. I had it 10 rounds to 2."

Now, it wasn't as wide as the always animated Freddie Roach made out but the fight could have easily been awarded to Manny Pacquiao. But, you cannot take anything away from Mr Timothy Bradley. He fought the right fight and dominated the action towards the end.

Bradley's manager Cameron Dunkin believed that his man deserved to win the fight and he apparently scored it 115-113 to Bradley.

It is very likely now that we will see a rematch between these two men. It was announced before the fight, that if Bradley won then there will be an immediate rematch in November, and both men are more than willing to do it all again. Bradley said that he is fine with the rematch and he will come back even stronger for the next fight. Pacquiao claims that he feels that he "100% won the fight" and he has happy to have a rematch.

Could this be the end of Manny Pacquiao? In the post-fight interview, he looked calm and content. Maybe he is happy with what he has done in his career? Maybe he doesn't feel that he doesn't need to prove himself anymore?

The boxing world has been turned on it's head after this fight. Mayweather-Pacquiao is no longer the most valuable fight out there. Manny Pacquiao can no longer be acclaimed as the 'P4P King.' Timothy Bradley is one of the most valuable fighters in the world from this point on and Mayweather's career has received a boost as many people will now go from seeing Pacquiao as the best fighter in the world and see 'Money' as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

Amir Khan predicting Pacquiao to KO Bradley...

Khan at press conference for July 14th fight with Danny Garcia.

Amir Khan prides himself on his knowledge of boxing, and he believes that stable-mate Manny Pacquiao will knockout Timothy Bradley in their superfight on June 9th. At one point last year, it looked as though Khan would be sharing the ring with Bradley but things went wrong and the fight didn't happen.

"I give the fight to Pacquiao by knockout. Maybe mid rounds. Manny will start finding his openings and start hurting him towards the mid rounds and put pressure on him. I don't think Bradley's fought anyone of [Pacquiao's] calibre or as strong as him," explained Khan.

Khan has never really picked against Pacquiao, who he trains with often as they are both trained by Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym. He did say that 'Pacman' should have retired after his fight with Marquez last year but he then backtracked on that and kind of just forgot he even said it.

This seems to be one of the rare cases where somebody is predicting Pacquiao to win easily. Many people believe that Bradley will cause an upset on June 9th. You just need to take one look at Bradley's physique and demeanour in the build up to this fight and you can tell that he is ready for what could be the biggest fight of his career.

Pacquiao-Bradley Face Off

HBO BOXING: MANNY PACQUIAO & TIMOTHY BRADLEY - FACE OFF WITH MAX KELLERMAN

Provodnikov: I thought I beat Timothy Bradley

http://www.youtube.com/user/theboxingchanneltv?feature=watch

Zou Shiming working mitts with Freddie Roach

EsNewsReporting.com