Amir Khan was tested tonight against Chris Algieri in the main event of the PBC on Spike telecast at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was a much more difficult fight than many expected, and a lot more entertaining as well.
Khan was sharp early as the jab worked well behind the right hand. Algieri was utilizing head movement, something he’s been criticized for in the past, but Khan was accurate. Khan was brilliant with his combinations and he rarely faltered in form, even when he was putting something extra on the end of a rally.
Algieri wasn’t being outclassed right away, but there was an obvious discretion between both fighters. The one bright spot for Algieri was a decent right hand over the top that landed on Khan’s chin, but it clearly didn’t hurt Khan if it only set him back in his offense at the close of the first.
Khan took the 2nd round and dominated it. Algieri learned that he wasn’t going to win a boxing match with the hand speed and offense at Khan’s disposal, so Algieri tried making it more of a dog fight in the 3rd and it worked a little better than in the previous rounds.
Algieri was having his moments with lead right hands, but he rarely capitalized off of the one landed shot and when he did throw a second or third punch it didn’t have much behind it. Khan had difficulty controlling the distance in the 3rd and he paid for it as Algieri was able to dictate the pace and push the action. Khan was being pursued and Algieri was finding success.
Khan boxed beautifully in spots in the 5th, but Algieri was active enough to make it awkward for Khan to get off in concession. Algieri’s power wasn’t a factor and he would’ve had Khan in trouble with some of his landed shots if he had something behind the shots.
Khan was actively waiting for Algieri to make mistakes, and what I mean by that is Khan was letting his hands go to a degree, but he was only making his punches count when Algieri was at the tail end of some overcompensating reckless offense.
At the start of the 7th, Algieri literally ran out to meet Khan in his corner, but Khan was prepared to throw and wrap up when necessary. Khan was moving well, but he wasn’t doing any real damage. The game plan was starting to shape out for Khan, but Algieri was able to land in between and he never let Khan run away with it.
Khan’s footwork was beautiful, as was his fast hand speed, but he wasn’t keeping Algieri honest.
Virgil Hunter told Khan in between the 7th and 8th that John David Jackson, Algieri’s new trainer, prepared his fighter for a fight out of character, but the problem was it was working. He wasn’t allowing Khan to dominate and he was landing hard shots that were at least getting Khan’s attention. Khan landed his best shot in several rounds in the 8th, but it didn’t stop Algieri from digging deep to the body.
Algieri landed a body shot that seemed to really effect Khan at the end of the 8th round. In the corner following that round, Hunter was conveying his frustrations to his fighter about getting tighter and making his shots count, especially when Algieri was off balanced.
Khan tried stealing the 9th by digging deep and delivering hard shots, but it was a back-and-forth round for the most part.
Both fighters started to show real signs of fatigue, and yet they were dedicated to the offense and Khan was able to make Algieri wobble a bit off of a body shot, followed by a big uppercut moments later. Respect to Algieri for continuing to fight through some obvious fatigue.
Khan couldn’t get completely settled, even when he was boxing beautiful he was unable to dictate the pace as Algieri loaded up and threw Khan off of his game.
Algieri came in strong in the 12th and did his best not to let his fatigue hold him back as he stood and traded. The fight ended up going the distance.
The judges scored the fight 115-113 and 117-111 twice for Amir Khan, giving him the unanimous decision victory.
It was a tough battle and Algieri earned a ton of respect as he showed up and was never in there to be an opponent. But Khan gets plenty of credit for eating shots that should’ve put him down if he was as chinny as many considered him to be.
Khan is still offensively brilliant, but his offensively oriented defense is flawed to say the least.
