Amir Khan returns to action next week against pound for pound star and WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
A fight that not many are giving him a chance in at the moment.
One of those who has disagreed with that notion however and rates Khan’s skills highly is commentator and trainer Teddy Atlas.
Speaking on his podcast this week while being complimentary to Khan in one breath, compared him to Oscar De La Hoya in the next — in that he believes both guys always find a way to self-sabotage in the biggest moment of their career and find a way out.
Speaking on ‘The Fight With Teddy Atlas’ the outspoken trainer said:
“With Khan — he reminds me of (Oscar) De La Hoya..”
He went on:
“So, where De La Hoya with all the big fights — he’d screw it up. He’d find a way to screw it up. To do something wrong and blow it. He did it with (Shane) Mosley. In all the big fights he never won them.”
Pulling no punches he continued:
“He always blew it. (Tito) Trinidad? Trinidad! He decided to run for three rounds when he had the fight in the bag. He’d always find a way to mess up. Like he didn’t deserve to win. Like psychologically something went hey-wire. He would always mess up.”
Turning his attention to current welterweight Amir Khan, Atlas said:
“Well Khan in the big fights somehow always finds a way in the big fights to make a mistake. In the Garcia fight he’s on the outside (doing well) then goes to the inside when he shouldn’t. He should be on the outside and what does he do, he gets a little too close and he gets timed. A left hook I believe.”
