(Photo: Lawrence Lustig / Matchroom Boxing)
Former junior welterweight titlist Amir Khan returns tonight against Phil Lo Greco at the sold-out Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, and Khan (31-4, 19 KOs), who has been out of action since his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2016, is feeling more confident than ever with new trainer Joe Goossen in his corner.
“I’ve always liked the way that Joe trains his fighters,” said Khan after the weigh-in on Friday. “He’s trained some great fighters like Corrales and Casamayor. They’re fighters with a similar style to me so I thought Joe would be a good fit and we got in touch, got on and chose to work with him for the rest of camp and it’s worked well.
“Every coach is different. Joe has wanted to get my fundamentals right. He wants me to box how I used to, be smart and not make mistakes. Why give the opponent a free chance to hit you? Joe has been telling me to keep the hands up and when I throw a shot to always remember defense while making sure the offense is firing too.”
Khan has gone 5-1 since his 2012 loss to Danny Garcia but his former trainer Virgil Hunter recently became ill and Khan needed to look for a new head trainer.
“The Amir Khan you’ll see is the one that boxes at a high pace with lots of combinations – but now when I throw them, there’s going to be better defense behind them. I feel better now than I did at 28. I’m 31 now, the peak years of my career, and I’ve made my mistakes and they’re in the past, I don’t want to make them again, so we move forward now and make the right choices.”
Khan’s fight against Lo Greco will air live via the new ESPN+ service through the ESPN app, beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. PT.
