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Amir Khan given brutally honest review of how to keep his boxing career alive by trainer Virgil Hunter

Former world champion spoke of his determination to continue boxing but his own trainer believes he must commit fully between fights or risk destroying his own skills

Jack de Menezes
Friday 24 May 2019 11:25 BST
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Amir Khan v Terence Crawford

Amir Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter has offered a withering assessment on the British boxer’s commitment between fights, but believes that he does not need to retire just yet if he increases his training workload.

Khan is assessing his future after his controversial defeat against WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford in April, in which he pulled out of the fight following a low blow and subsequently denied accusations that he quit the fight.

The loss came as the fifth of his career, following defeats in the ring against Canelo Alvarez, Danny Garcia, Breidis Prescott and one to Lamont Peterson who later failed a drugs test, and leaves Khan in limbo over whether to fight again.

The Bolton boxer was adamant that his New York defeat will not be the end of his career, with possible fights against Kell Brook and Manny Pacquiao still pursuable, but his trainer Hunter believes that there is no point in continuing unless he fully commits to his career like never before in order to ensure his skills in the ring don’t deteriorate.

“I’d give him the benefit of the doubt,” Hunter told the BBC. "I would like to see him commit to many training camps in between fights and to work on his weaknesses before he makes that final decision to really see if his skills are gone, or if he is just letting them lay in a pile and deteriorate slowly.

"He never has practice in between fights. He trains hard for 10 weeks but it's not enough."

Even though Khan withdrew from the Crawford fight following an illegal punch, the American was up on all three of the judges’ scorecards, and it was looking increasingly difficult for Khan to get back into a position where he could contest for victory.

But despite the difference between Khan and Crawford being displayed for all to see, Hunter does not believe that the 32-year-old is showing signs of the beginning of the end, and instead feels that his biggest weaknesses are a result of not committing to his training.

"There's little things that he does that cause him to be out of sync," added Hunter. "His timing is off. His distance is not where it should be. He doesn't have a sense of range and distance and those things are not due to age. That's from practice.

Khan has expressed his desire not to retire from boxing yet 

"His hand speed is still there but his sense of distance and range is not there and that's what he needs to work on."

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