Amir Khan Vs. Dimitriy Salita: Pre Match Analysis

What a way to end the year with an eye catching world title bout that will pit a hotshot Pakistani-Brit against a power punching Ukrainian-American. Lets have a look at how these two fighters square up, and who I think will emerge victorious.














As the reigning & defending champ, Khan has not set the world alight in his professional career so far. This has to be attributed to the fact that he has a glass jaw. In his 22 fights, Khan has been consistently knocked down by opponents, making it the biggest and most threatening weakness that he possess. Boxing fans alike will never forget the match against Breidis Prescott, who knocked him down within 25 secs of the first round, before shutting the lights 41 seconds later. I personally feel that Khan was naive to agree to face a bigger opponent, much to the delight of then trainer, Jorge Rubio. But Khan is not all weak. His credentials resides in his speed and punch accuracy, learning from sparring partner Manny Pacquiao. Under the eye of Freddie Roach, Khan will be fighting in front of a largely supportive home crowd who will be looking for a successful defense of the title.



















Step up Dimitry Salita. Not much is know about this orthodox fighter, other than he is the number one contender for Khans' title. with an impressive record of 30 wins and 1 bout even, Salita is definitely a darkhorse who might just steal that title away from Khan but it wont be that easy. Salita's strong points are his power punching. A solid left hook and a right hand has scored him the wins in his career and if compared to Khan, he does have the better chin. He does however, lack both hand speed and agility

Salita will need to neutralize Khan's hand speed and fancy footwork if he wants to land those power punches. This might be hard as Khan will adopt a similar fighting style vs Kotelnik. Salita might struggle to get to Khan but if he can land a few decent punches, than believe me Khan will wobble, and might just get knocked-down

Verdict

This fight is definitely too close to call as both fighters can fully exploit the others weaknesses. If Salita can get that knock down early on then he will have an amazing chance to topple Khan. However, I do feel that Khan will be an improved fighter thanks to Roach and strongly see him winning this via decision but he might even sneak-in a KO in the 9th or 10th.