Is Amir Khan overrated or has he just reached his peak?

Under the Las Vegas lights of Mandalay Bay Events Centre, Amir Khan and thousands of his fans were dealt a stunning cold harsh reality.

After being knocked out and busted up in just four rounds against supposed underdog Danny Garcia, his career has hit a brick wall.

Before this fight, Khan’s stable were talking about a possible Floyd Mayweather or Timothy Bradley bout, but now after being brutally knocked out in just four rounds those fights couldn’t be further away.

This knockout has brought up past memories of when Khan was viciously knocked out in under a minute by unknown Colombian Breidis Prescott, handing him his first defeat. It also brings to light talk of him having a dodgy chin.

Previously he had been dropped by Willie Limond and was also in desperate trouble against Argentine banger Marcos Maidana before winning a unanimous decision.

First and foremost let me just say Amir Khan is a decent and skilled boxer, BUT I have always said he is not this so-called world beater all the British media make him out to be.

Khan’s rise to fame is due to the fact that Britain has been crying out for another world class performer since the likes of Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed.

When he won a silver medal at just 17 at the 2004 Athens Olympic games, he became the youngest British boxing medalist and from then on his future was more or less set.

So much so that even after being knocked out in under a minute, in his very next fight he was fighting for the WBA International Lightweight title against Oisin Fagen, amazing.

In the fight following that he fought living legend but ageing Marco Antonio Barrera, beating him for the WBO Inter-continental Lightweight title…..That is hardly paying your dues and working your way back up the ladder. Further indication of Frank Warren and the politics that are used in professional boxing.

In the long run Frank Warren and co are to blame for this as they are the ones calling the shots, setting up the big fights and making money of Khan’s unjust and easy road, rise up the ranks.

Yes his fights are exciting but they are more exciting due to his vulnerabilities not directly due to his boxing skills (although he is a good boxer) just not world class yet.

Just as Garcia’s father Angel Garcia said, “Khan won a silver medal for Britain and became a superstar, if you win a silver medal for boxing in America you are still a nobody yet“.

In the fight Amir Khan started predictably well with fast jabs and quick in and out movements, connecting with some nice left, right combinations while avoided being hit with anything significant.

Garcia is a notoriously slow starter so as this pattern played out in the first two rounds nobody was surprised.

It all changed in the third round though when Garcia connected with his trademark left hook that caught khan part on the neck and part on the back of his jaw.

The punch scrambled all Khan’s circuits and sent him crashing to the canvass. Khan quickly got up but stumbled across the ring into the ropes while ref Kenny Bayless counted to eight.

Many thought he was lucky to be allowed to continue as he looked in desperate trouble, nevertheless the bell sounded for the end of the round and Khan had just survived but looked hurt.

Unfortunately his respite did not last for long, as soon as the fourth round started Danny Garcia went on the immediate attack and began to bombarded Khan with strong and hard hooks to the head.

Khan gallantly tried to fight back but was being caught on a regular basis and eventually touched down again.

The fight continued and again, Khan opted to fight his way out of trouble instead of trying to tie Garcia up.

This was to his detriment as Khan was constantly being hit by Garcia’s hard swinging hooks.

In the end it was a glancing blow which landed on the top of the head that sent Khan to the canvass for a third time.

As Khan got up you could see he was still groggy, he did respond to the ref asking if he was alright but Khan did not put his hands up like fighters would normally do.

That may have had something to do with the ref stopping the fight. Maybe Khan could had an argument with the stoppage but the fight could have been easily stopped at the end of the third round.

Before the fight during various press conferences tempers flared due to what everyone thought was crazy outbursts by Danny Garcia’s father.

He also maintained Khan was overrated and said his son would easily defeat him.

Now, following his sons devastated victory all the things he had been saying about Khan before the fight doesn’t look so crazy now.

The signs had been there previously but because Khan’s fights had that exciting factor, Frank Warren and co was able to continue to make marquee bouts.

In his previous fight (a loss against Lamont Peterson) Khan was rocked on several occasions but these were all swept under the carpet due to the controversial nature of the bout.

As I said before Khan’s stable are to blame for this latest defeat, they need to stop chasing the elite “big money” fight and start to put some honest work in.

Previously Khan talked about being too big of an opponent for certain fighters at home and abroad, who were calling him out since he elevated to world class level.

Now it seems that world class level is a bit too big for him at the moment, and maybe he needs to take a few of these fights before he decides to try move up to that elite world level.