Khan is more proven and has a size advantage, but has no chin and a porous defense. Valero had legit power & could take a shot, but his career have been dismissed by most hardcore fans aside from Doug Fischer. Let's say they meet at 135, or even 140. What transpires? I'm thinking Khan soundly outboxes him for the first few rounds, gets put down hard somewhere around the 4th or 5th, and eventually gets carried out on a stretcher.
it wasnt just fischer who considered valero a potential all time great. pretty much all the boxing guys who saw him training here in LA thought the guy was the goods.
I heard this, but the way he fought was radically different from the stories I heard about him in training. Maybe he regressed after he moved to Japan.
No way Khan can avoid Valero's power for very long. Valero might dust him in the opening round and I wouldn't be surprised at all.
Valero is obviously the favorite but Khan is a dangerous puncher early, he downed both Peterson and Maidana early, and Valero's chin wasn't tested at very high level so Khan might hurt him too.
Ex-fucking-actly. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this scrubby little monk, after hearing epic amounts of hype about how good he was, speaking of him almost like a modern day Duran. People even said he was really fast. What I saw was a slow, scrubby, basic fighter with absurdly telegraphed shots, and good power. He looked like a 130 pound Mayorga, but slower. However, having seen a few fights of his and being a huge detractor, I was impressed with him against DeMarco. Still didn't look anywhere near as good as the hype, but it was clear he could fight, and that he was a tough little bastard too. Shrugging off that epic cut like it was nothing. He's probably just too powerful and aggressive for Khan, I agree with your prediction of the fight.
Khan isn't, and never has been, a dangerous puncher at any point in the fight. He stings and sometimes floors guys through sheer speed. He has the speed and range to catch guys off guard, but no REAL power. If he'd KO'd one of them you'd have a point.
The sight of Maidana down, and badly hurt, off one left hook to the liver, suggests otherwise. It was something of a fluke, as he never done it since. I think that the Monkish Scrubmaster could get to Khan, but that's the type of fight it is, he has to "Get to him". Up until he gets to Khan, Khan is going to make him look bad.
I agree with you, that one did seem to have some meat on it, but like you said it was a one off. Generally, he stings guys with fast, snappy shots, but never really hurts them or knocks them out.
Valero was one of those guys, like Vitali or Monzon who appeared scrubby but was obviously effective and there was more to it than what meets the eye. Now, before anyone accuses me of saying Valery was as good as Monzon or even Vitali, trust me, that wasn't my point and it's not what I'm saying.
Valero was shit, but Khan was even worse at 135, if he wasn't getting obliterated by Prescott he was getting dropped and hurt by the likes of Limond and Gomez. I'd give him a good shot at 140.
