On the 6th September 2008, Amir Khan headlined his first Pay Per View fight on Sky Box Office by the then unknown Breidis Prescott – and I was left completely astonished following his 54 second demolition. Before the fight I had checked out Prescott’s record, and was initially impressed as he was an undefeated fighter winning 17 out of 19 fights by KO. On closer inspection there wasn’t any familiar names in his record, and the records of his opponents included fighters with considerably more losses than wins (i.e. Miguel Angel Suarez 3-23-0). However he clearly had power as he had knocked most of them out in a few rounds!

There are plenty of people that have questioned Khan’s defence and chin, but what most people are quick to forget is that Amir possesses fantastic hand speed and has a 78% knockout rate himself – so you will have plenty to do to try and test his chin! When Breidis landed his shots on Amir though, they had an instant impact and Khan’s legs buckled as they sent shockwaves through his body. About 20 seconds into the fight a left hook caught Khan on the chin and sent him down hard! The fight could well have been stopped at this point. Although I was impressed that he managed to get to his feet after being dropped so hard, he almost seemed to be dipping in and out of consciousness while standing. If it was Breidis in that situation I don’t think Terry O’connor (the referee) would have let him continue. It was a second left hook that sent Khan tumbling onto his back that finished the fight, and I was just pleased to see that Khan didn’t appear to be hurt during the post-fight interviews.

So what happened? Has Amir Khan been exposed as an average fighter with no chin, who has simply been conning us all along…? I don’t think so! I think Amir is a great fighter who simply showed inexperience and for whatever reason (be it changing trainers or being eager to please his PPV audience), got his tactics for the fight horribly wrong and paid the price. At the start of the fighter Amir practically sprinted over to Prescott’s corner to engage him and started swapping shots. With Breidis being an unknown and a potential dangerous fighter, I would like to have seen Amir testing the water by throwing some fast jabs and staying elusive. If necessary, dance round him the whole night and win on points!

So what next? I don’t think Khan’s chin is as big a problem as people are making out. If you watch the replay, he got caught with an incredibly hard shot that would have taken most people down. It’s more how and why he got hit that should be questioned. My advice for his next steps would be to get a trainer like Freddie Roach and start rebuilding his boxing career from scratch. Put aside any ambitions for world titles and pay per view for now, and concentrate on getting back on form.

I look forward to seeing him in the ring again soon!