Amir Khan v Chris Algieri: Fight Preview

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Amir Khan v Chris AlgieriFormer Jr. Welterweight champion Amir Khan (30-3-19KO’s) will make his return to the ring on Friday May 29th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York. He will take on New York native and former WBO Jr. Welterweight champion Chris Algieri (20-1-8KO’s). The bout will be televised live on Spike TV 9pmET/6PMPT as part of the Premier Boxing Champions series.

Amir Khan is an Olympic silver medalist from the 2004 summer games in Athens. He has extremely fast hands and average punching power. He is very athletic and has the heart of a true warrior. However, it is well known amongst boxing fans that he does not possess the sturdiest chin. Since switching trainers a few years back after his knock out loss to Danny Garcia, he has been able to adapt to a more defensively conscious style. Since teaming up with Virgil Hunter, Amir Khan has been a little more defensively responsible and has gotten his aggression under control and isn’t as reckless as he was.

Khan has some good wins over the likes of Andriy Kotelnik, Paul Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana, Zab Judah and Luis Collazo. Khan stands at about 5’9 in height and possesses a 71 inch reach.

Chris Algieri, on the other hand, has had no Amateur experience and instead had a career as a professional kickboxer before turning over to pro boxing. Chris turned to professional boxing in 2008 and has since built up a 20-1 record with the lone loss coming from Manny Pacquiao. Stylistically, Algieri is a pure boxer that likes to use his jab often. He has good legs and knows how to use the ring well. However, he does not possess much punching power. He holds quality wins over Emanuel Taylor and Ruslan Provodnikov. Algieri stands at 5’10 in height and has a 72 inch reach and will look to work off of his jab as he does in every fight.

Both fighters are former Jr. Welterweight champions but it should be noted that this fight will take place in the welterweight division. Both fighters have similarities in fighting style with the major difference being that Khan has a weak chin while Algieri is deficient in punching power. Khan is a boxer/puncher while Algieri is a pure boxer. Stylistically this seems like a great match-up for Khan and that’s probably the reason why it’s happening. He may just be in line to get a shot at Floyd Mayweather if he wins!