Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao believes that Amir Khan is capable of winning a world title.
Khan, 21, was considered one of the brightest young talents in boxing until his devastating first-round knockout defeat by Breidis Prescott in September.
There are those that believe that he will never properly recover from the savage nature of his first professional defeat but Pacquiao has been sparring with Khan in Freddie Roach’s Wild Card gym in Los Angeles and has been impressed by what he has seen.
”Amir has recently started working with my trainer, Freddie Roach, and I know there is a lot of interest in him,” the Filipino sensation wrote in his column on espn.com.
”I think he's a good fighter; he's very quick and very fast. I'll think he'll be a world champion one day.”
Pacquiao, of course, is currently readying himself for his much-anticipated bout with fellow ring legend Oscar de la Hoya.
Despite being universally regarded as the world’s number fighter, Pac-Man is the clear underdog because the fight has been made at welterweight and he has never fought above 135lbs before, while his opponent has spent a large part of the past seven years at light-middle.
But while Pacquiao has an enormous amount of respect for De La Hoya, he is confident of victory, primarily because of the quality of his preparations.
”I've been in L.A. since the end of September, so this is one of the longest camps I've ever had. It's also the hardest training camp I've ever had. But then, this isn't only the biggest event of my career. I believe it is going to be the hardest fight, with the fact that it is at a higher weight and also in particular with fighting a legend like Oscar,” he enthused.
”He has so much experience and a tremendous ability to adapt to his opponent over the course of a fight. He's very smart in the ring.
”To be honest, it all still seems like a dream that I could be fighting De La Hoya, that I could be fighting the most popular fighter of my generation. If you can't get excited about fighting Oscar De La Hoya - well, then you shouldn't be fighting.
”But I'm a fighter; it's my job, it's what I do full time. And in the ring on December 6, I'm going to do the job I am paid to do and I'm going to do it well.”
Khan, 21, was considered one of the brightest young talents in boxing until his devastating first-round knockout defeat by Breidis Prescott in September.
There are those that believe that he will never properly recover from the savage nature of his first professional defeat but Pacquiao has been sparring with Khan in Freddie Roach’s Wild Card gym in Los Angeles and has been impressed by what he has seen.
”Amir has recently started working with my trainer, Freddie Roach, and I know there is a lot of interest in him,” the Filipino sensation wrote in his column on espn.com.
”I think he's a good fighter; he's very quick and very fast. I'll think he'll be a world champion one day.”
Pacquiao, of course, is currently readying himself for his much-anticipated bout with fellow ring legend Oscar de la Hoya.
Despite being universally regarded as the world’s number fighter, Pac-Man is the clear underdog because the fight has been made at welterweight and he has never fought above 135lbs before, while his opponent has spent a large part of the past seven years at light-middle.
But while Pacquiao has an enormous amount of respect for De La Hoya, he is confident of victory, primarily because of the quality of his preparations.
”I've been in L.A. since the end of September, so this is one of the longest camps I've ever had. It's also the hardest training camp I've ever had. But then, this isn't only the biggest event of my career. I believe it is going to be the hardest fight, with the fact that it is at a higher weight and also in particular with fighting a legend like Oscar,” he enthused.
”He has so much experience and a tremendous ability to adapt to his opponent over the course of a fight. He's very smart in the ring.
”To be honest, it all still seems like a dream that I could be fighting De La Hoya, that I could be fighting the most popular fighter of my generation. If you can't get excited about fighting Oscar De La Hoya - well, then you shouldn't be fighting.
”But I'm a fighter; it's my job, it's what I do full time. And in the ring on December 6, I'm going to do the job I am paid to do and I'm going to do it well.”
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