Over achieved and would have been pure journeyman material if he'd come along 10 years earlier Physically brave and determined but a good advertisement for how a few world class attributes and good management/slick media is enough to take you very far in the generally diminishing standards since the early 2000s. Imagine Khan trying to pick up serious clout at 135/140/147 from 1999 to 2009. He'd already been beaten badly once by the time he beat Kotelnik.
Agreed that he overachieved. I'll try to focus on the good: He had some of the fastest hands in history, and he was always in fun fights. EXCEPT for the fucking time I paid to see him, and he quit against Bud, but I digress. Also a positive, he wasn't afraid of top opposition. I mean, he did avoid Brook until the end, but generally he wasn't shy about getting in with the best guys.
A talented but limited guy with a ton of heart who definitely always gave it his all. Khan is in fact the ultimate over achiever. For having such low punch resistance, he accomplished quite a bit. His arrogance made me want to see him get KO’d but he was always in entertaining fights for the most part, and didn’t shy away from dangerous fights (Except Brook ). It was an ill advised move to face Canelo when he did, he’d have been much better off facing Brook or Thurman at 147. I don’t think he’s HOF material. But other than that, hats off to him for a pretty good career.
Completely agree about this. That was a go-for-the-money move - it made me think he actually didn’t believe in his own career anymore because he must have known deep down that he was getting KO’ed by Canelo. If he didn’t, he was delusional. I thought a fight at that point with Brook was both marketable and winnable but he seemed to think he was a level above Brook which he wasn’t. Had he won that, he could have gone for the big bucks follow up against Canelo then. But he effectively put all his chips in on the remote possibility that he’d beat Alvarez. That was the point of no return - he couldn’t rescue his career after that. There’s brave and then there’s foolish and that was foolish.
Hard to say. Prior to fighting Canelo, he was coming off a really long layoff. The longest of his career up to that point. I always had a feeling that by that point Khan lost the fire and simply decided to cash out.
Gatti made Floyd a superstar. The Gatti vs Ward trilogy got so much hype. By the time Gatti fought Floyd casuals believed Gatti had a chance.
in the end, khan got the chance to fight both canelo and brook. had he faced brook first and lost he never would've got the canelo fight.
Had a good run under Roach, definitely overachieved, thick as a brick and undeniably brave, his fights have great rewatchability value, especially his losses, the man knew how to get KOed in style
It was a go for the money move, but i see it more as cashing in than cashing out. At no stage in his career would he have had a chance to beat Canelo. May as well take the money when it's available. A loss to Alvarez wasn't going to be a career-ender.
In a way, it was. After that fight, Khan was definitely finished at top level. Other than Crawford, he fought no top guys and nobody was clamoring to fight him either.
I think he had a great career considering his obvious and well documented limitations. Beat some good fighters, made some money, fair play to him.
I don't see him as an overachiever. He was a guy that, since he had such a disparity between his strengths and weaknesses, could shine against certain type of guy, and get blasted out by similar level guys whou could get to his aforementioned weaknesses (mainly chin and shitty skills)
I basically summarised my thoughts on him in the thread where he lost to Brook. No point in repeating them. I've watched every second of his pro career and a lot of his ammy career. I enjoyed watching pretty much all of it, for better or worse. MTF
I hope he doesn't suffer any long term consequences.....he always seemed he might.....he's never struck me as being Archie Moore or LaMotta in the cranial longevity sense. He's taken a lot of punishment even in fights he's won. I can see him having problems 20 years from now, domestic, once he suffers the Bruno effect of loss of attention/affection and creeping ageing /career related dementia. I've just got that feeling about him.
Yeah and Gatti was designed to get Floyd into the Home Boys Only club. That was his induction ceremony in 2005. The Oscar fight in 2007 was when he got the right to demand huge sums for fights. Beating a guy who hadn't won a big fight since 1999 I think Floyd's the most talented fighter of my life since Roy Jones and Ali and Tyson. But he's been very very careful and his talent just makes his bullshit all the more annoying.
Khan usually showed heart in the ring but I feel he became a bit of a cherrypicker toward the end of his career, chasing the big high profile fights but not willing to take the high risk low reward ones. There is no reason why the fight with Brooks didn't happen far earlier and I can't give him too much credit for fighting Canelo as, from my perspective, it seems more like a dude cashing out than someone interested in building a legacy
Glad to see he's finally hanging them up instead of continuously be knocked around. He's always been a fun fighter to watch despite his major issues. Considering the list of fighters that he's been in the ring with, especially the ones that beat him, you really have to admire some of the names on his resume. Win or lose he always did his best. Breidis Prescott Marco Antonio Barrera Paulie Malignaggi Marcos Maidana Zab Judah Lamont Peterson Danny Garcia Luis Collazo Devon Alexander Chris Algieri Canelo Alvarez Terence Crawford Kell Brook
He couldn't do it because at that level by that stage EVERY fight is high risk and he knew one loss put him at the back of the queue in a big way. So he had to pick and choose wisely.
Oh and the Barrera fight was a total total scam. If they'd let that go on he'd have been on queer street 8n due course. That's what I mean by good management and good promotion. To land that fight, justify it, charge top dollar and then explain the ending away required real promotional weight and a concerted suspension of anything tantamount to boxing reality. But they pulled it off.
