Welterweight Amir Khan returns to the ring for the first time in nearly two years this weekend against Phil Lo Greco and at 31 years of age he feels the best is still to come.
Khan has been around the limelight for well over a decade at this point.
From his meteoric rise at the Olympics as a teenager to winning a world title at just 22 years of age – Khan is hell bet on making sure that the finishing end of his career is stronger than ever.
Winning a world title is his ultimate goal and speaking after today’s weigh-ins Khan said:
“I’ve always liked the way that Joe trains his fighters,” said Khan, who scaled 10st 10lbs, with Lo Greco 10st 9lbs 5oz. “He’s trained some great fighters like Corrales and Casamayor. They’re fighters with a similar style to me so I thought Joe would be a good fit and we got in touch, got on and chose to work with him for the rest of camp and it’s worked well.
“Every coach is different. Joe has wanted to get my fundamentals right. He wants me to box how I used to, be smart and not make mistakes. Why give the opponent a free chance to hit you? Joe has been telling me to keep the hands up and when I throw a shot to always remember defence while making sure the offense is firing too.
“I feel really good. I’ve sparred a lot of young guys, Olympians and unbeaten hungry pros, and they have really been pushing me. They want to prove a point and show me how good they are, so they push me. I feel that my body is peaking and the gameplan that Joe is working on with me has come together. It’s been such a long time but I feel now like I’ve never left the game.
“The Amir Khan you’ll see is the one that boxes at a high pace with lots of combinations – but now when I throw them, there’s going to be better defence behind them. I feel better now than I did at 28. I’m 31 now, the peak years of my career, and I’ve made my mistakes and they’re in the past, I don’t want to make them again, so we move forward now and make the right choices.”
The fight will take place this weekend at Liverpool’s Echo Arena in the UK.
Khan will be under the guidance of trainer Joe Goossen for this bout.
