Khan Gone in 60 Seconds..
By Arvin Nundloll 07/09/08
Amir Khan's world came crashing back down to reality on Saturday at the M.E.N arena, where previously unheard of and undefeated Breidis Prescott demolished Khan and his world title dreams in 54 seconds of round one.
Khan underestimated his opponent and came out toe to toe from the opening bell and was punished severely.
Khan landing a few jabs into Prescott and began building confidence to try and add another first round knock out to his record. Prescott on the other hand knew all about Khan and his style of boxing and turned this into his advantage, tagging Khan with a left jab before churning out a spectacular left hook to send Khan crashing down to the canvas for the first time in the fight.
Khan stumbled back up, but was in no condition to fight on as he had glanced at his corner to signal the end was near. Prescott seized the chance and pounced on Khan and pummelled him into the corner for the final time, sealing the deal with a another stunning left hook to wash away any dream of Khan becoming a world champion anytime soon.
Prescott came prepared and motivated for the fight, whereas Khan and Frank Warren began to use Amir’s new coach as the scapegoat for the loss, claiming Jorge Rubio was to blame for selecting Prescott as the opponent and highly recommending him.
Speaking on Rubio, Frank Warren had the following to say;
"I was a bit nervous before the match. I did take the recommendation from Rubio and I should not have. I have got to take the responsibility but I am a little bit disappointed how much Prescott was recommended."
Warren then commented on Khan’s future;
"His problem is his heart. He rushed out as soon as the bell went, tried to take the fight to the guy rather than have a look at him and he paid the price.
"In his last couple of fights when he has been caught, he has got straight back up and has gone on to win the fight, and even the round.
"But he does drop his hands and gets caught. That is what schooling and learning is all about. Unfortunately Prescott was not the type of opponent to get that schooling from.
"Amir was the architect of his own defeat. If he is going to go on and do the things that we all hope he can do, it is a painful lesson he will have to learn.
"I think he will have to go in with somebody again who is going to give him something to think about it, If you are going to be ready for a world title fight, you have to be ready for the Prescotts of this world."
Amir Khan had the following to say after the fight
"I made a little mistake in there and couldn't get it back again. It was a stupid mistake," said Khan.
"That's boxing. One punch can change the fight. I'm fine but I need to go back to the drawing board and put it right.
"I'm a world beater and I'm going to come back stronger. I'm really sorry to my fans."
Khan’s intact undefeated record now goes and so will Sky televisions new Mr.PPV, as I doubt anyone would now consider Amir Khan PPV material after this performance.
After becoming the golden child of British boxing since the Athens Olympics, the public can now see what many other journalists and fight fans knew all along that it was only a matter of time before Khan would be exposed with his chin and reckless fight style. Jorge Rubio may have also underestimated Prescott’s ability and has given Khan an opponent of his calibre too early on, even though he was and still is relatively unknown. The chances of Rubio being in the corner for Khan’s next fight are slim at best and I would not be surprised to see him out of a job by the end of the week.
The weight of expectation on Khan may have also played a part, in a similar situation to Audley Harrisson and Frank Bruno where the British public were quick to shoot them down as soon as they failed to live up to what was expected, it appears that Khan is heading in the same downward spiral unless he can overcome this defeat and begin to take his boxing career seriously by fighting opponents who will actually test his ability.
The other blame has to lie with Frank Warren. He had continually spoon fed Khan low quality opponents and made Khan believe his own hype.
The harsh reality is while Khan was fighting fringe boxers and fighters who had not fought for a year or two, the rest of the division moved on, as on the same night Khan lost his undefeated record, Juan Diaz defeated Michael Katsidis in an explosive matchup which showcased the best of the lightweight division.
Also on the undercard, Alex Arthur failed to turn up against Nicky Cook in his first outing as the WBO Super Featherweight title as he was out classed by the Dagenham fighter.
Nicky Cook looked more aggressive and caught Arthur with the cleaner punches throughout the whole 12 rounds as Arthur looked lost and out of steam.
Cook looked a different man from his previous challenge for the WBO title against Steve Luevano, which saw Cook down on the floor five times. His hand speed and accuracy greatly improved against Arthur and can now enjoy his unexpected success for some time to come.
The final quote of the day has to be from the post fight press conference;
Too sad for Nicky Cook’s liking. “It’s all a bit morbid in here,” said the Romford fighter as he rocked up for the post-fight news conference, “someone died?” “Only Amir Khan’s career,” some wit shot back.
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