"Obviously, I fought both of them, yeah, and I really think that, in my opinion, Garcia isn't the best boxer. He's just got that one big shot, which is the big left hook, and obviously he times it well. So basically, I think for a fighter to beat Garcia is to avoid that big left hook that he's always looking for," stated former world champion Amir Khan, who shared his thoughts on the anticipated showdown this Saturday between jr. welterweight champions Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson. Having been in the ring with both fighters, Khan definitely has expert knowledge on what fans can expect in the fight, so check out what else he had to say!
AMIR KHAN ON GARCIA VS. PETERSON:
He's very easy to hit, Garcia, because he's got slow feet. Sometimes, it makes you feel like, "You know what? This guy is easy to hit and easy to get to," but that's when you leave yourself vulnerable to get hit with big shots. I think that's where I went wrong because obviously, I was having so much success in those early rounds, I thought, "You know what? I can go and knock this guy out." I went to throw that big shot and obviously I got caught with it.
With Peterson, Peterson is more of an all-around fighter in a way. He has a tight guard, keeps walking forward. I mean, he's also easy to hit. Look, I've been in the ring with both of them and I know them. They both are easy to hit. Maybe that's because I have quick hands myself and I can hit fighters quick myself. But I think in this fight, I think Peterson could take it. The reason why is because the tight guard and also how he stands in the fight. I think Garcia is going to have a problem getting that left hook in all the time and he's going to give him big problems. I think he [Peterson] needs to stay on the outside and use that jab more and use straight shots and not trade with him.
Another thing, is Peterson the same fighter as he was when he fought me? We don't know because obviously there's a lot of people saying that he was on something. But obviously with the punishment he took in the early rounds, he went down and everything, but he still came back and obviously he grinded through the rounds and he was always there in front of me. When I fought Garcia, it was like a one-way fight really. I was just destroying him really, hitting him when I wanted. Garcia cuts quite easy. You see most of his shots because obviously he loads up on them and he's not as quick. To be honest, he's not as quick as Peterson, I don't think. But the only thing is Garcia has great timing where he'll throw that left hook in when you're throwing a shot. In between a shot, he's landing a big shot. So Garcia's tactics for this fight will be taking a shot from Peterson, letting Peterson get the confidence, and then maybe landing a big shot.
I don't know if Peterson's going to be the same fighter now since he's been knocked out by Matthysse. I think he still can pull it off if he sticks to boxing. Physically, Peterson's not the biggest puncher, but he's just one of those fighters that can just keep grinding you down and keeping coming at you, coming at you, coming at you. He's one of those guys that keeps coming at you, but I guess with Matthysse, it didn't work because obviously Matthysse is a big puncher. Matthysse caught him with good, clean shots early on. If the fight goes past probably 4 or 5 rounds, I think that's when Peterson kind of gets into his mode. But don't get me wrong, Garcia has shown a lot of heart in fights and he can take a good shot as well, but really, he's only got the one big punch, the left hook. If you take that left hook away from Garcia, he's got nothing, I don't think.
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