Phil Lo Greco believes that Amir Khan has been living the easy life the last 2 years with the huge money he’s made in the past from boxing. Lo Greco (28-3, 15 KOs) doubts that Khan has put in the hard that he needed to during training camp due to all the fun that he’s used to having because of his immense wealth.
To be sure, Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) has been a real jetsetter in the last 6 years, flying all over the world seemingly on one long vacation after another. Khan has done a lot of traveling, and the criticism is that he’s not dedicated himself to his craft the way that other less fortunate fighters have.
In some ways you can argue that Khan has been England’s version of Adrien Broner, a fighter known for having slacked off and not gotten the most out of his amazing boxing skills.
Khan and Lo Greco will be fighting this Saturday night on April 21 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. This will be the first fight back for the 31-year-old Khan since his 6th round knockout loss to former WBC 160 lb. world champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in May 2016.
Khan had hand surgery shortly after that fight, and then for whatever reason, he stayed out of the ring for the next two years. It could be Khan’s priorities were more on enjoying his life than in continue to ply his trade and work hard the way dedicated, and ambitious fighters do. People in everyday life are unable to step away from their jobs for two years the way Khan has done with boxing.
”His lifestyle has not been the greatest. He lives a lavish, luxury lifestyle and when you live the celebrity life, it’s hard to dedicate yourself,” Lo Greco said to Sky Sports News.
Lo Greco, 33, brings up some good points. When elevated level athletes step away from the sport for a couple of years to enjoy their hard-earned well, they’re often never the same when they do finally come back to their respect sports. Khan might have made a mistake by choosing to stay out of the ring for 2 solid years rather than coming back as soon as his hand was healed from surgery.
Khan’s inactivity might not keep him from still beating Lo Greco on Saturday. After all, this is a hand-picked journeyman level opponent that Khan is facing, but he could problems later when his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing matches him against world class opposition. Hearn is chomping at the bit to match Khan against former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in December.
Whether Khan lets Hearn make that fight this year will depend. Khan has been eying the July 15th fight between WBA World welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse and Manny Pacquiao. Khan’s best chance of winning a world title at 147 would be against the winner of that fight. Khan could rejuvenate his career by beating the winner of the Matthysse-Pacquiao fight.
“The knockout shot has been on his mind for a long time,” Lo Greco said about Khan’s knockout loss to Canelo.
It’s likely that Khan has been thinking a lot about his knockout loss to Canelo. When you’ve been knocked out the way Khan was by Canelo, you must think about the incident. If Khan is gun-shy against Lo Greco, it could give the Canadian fighter a chance of pulling off the upset on Saturday.
