By Ian S Palmer
England’s Amir Khan returns to the ring this Saturday, April 21st after an almost two-year absence to take on Phil Lo Greco at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. The 12-round welterweight bout can be seen on ESPN+ in the U.S. While fans in the UK can catch the action on Sky Sports Action as well as the Main Event channel. Khan hasn’t fought since he moved up in weight and was stopped in the sixth round by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez for his WBC Middleweight Championship back in May of 2016. Lo Greco’s last outing was back in June when he beat Jesus Gurrola by an eight-round majority decision.
The 31-year-old Khan is a former World Junior Welterweight and British Commonwealth Lightweight Champion who enters the contest with a record of 31-4 with 19 Kos. His loss to Alvarez snapped a five-fight winning streak with victories over Chris Algieri, Devon Alexander, Luiz Collazo, Julio Diaz and Carlos Molina. The native of Bolton, England has now lost four fights during his career with three of them coming by stoppage and it’s well known his chin is often questionable even though he has stood up to some solid punchers. .
Khan’s first loss was a first-round stoppage to Breidis Prescott in 2008 and he then dropped highly-controversial split decision to Lamont Peterson in December of 2011. He was stopped by former WBC Champion Danny Garcia in the fourth round in his very next fight in July of 2012 and was also KO’d by Alvarez. However, he’s also faced and beaten some of the best boxers of his weight divisions over the years such as Marco Antonio Barrera, Zab Judah, Andriy Kotelnik, Paulie Malignaggi and Marcos Maidana as well as those mentioned above on his five-bout winning streak.
In fact, Khan’s gone 10-3 with 2 Kos against former and current world champions. He enjoyed a fine amateur career and capped it off with a silver medal in the lightweight division at the 2004 Olympics in Athens as a 17-year-old. Khan turned pro in 2005 and now has 209 rounds under his belt since then with a knockout ratio of 54 per cent. He stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a reach of 71 inches and possesses fine boxing skills, speed and movement in the ring. He’s not known as a power puncher, but managed to stop Judah and deck Maidana and Collazo.
The 31-year-old Lo Greco hails from Toronto and is known as ‘The Italian Sensation’. He’ll climb into the ring with a mark of 28-3 along with 15 Kos. He has a pretty solid chin as he’s been stopped just once and that was a third-round KO at the hands of Errol Spence Jr. back in June of 2015. His other losses were to Joseph Elegele via a 10-round unanimous decision in 2016 and a 10-round unanimous decision to Shawn Porter in 2013. However, looking at Lo Greco’s list of opponents, Spence and Porter are likely the only to most fans will recognize.
Lo Greco turned pro in 2006 and has boxed 162 rounds since then with most of his fights being at super welterweight and his last bout at middleweight. He’s 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 68-inch reach, meaning he’s just half an inch shorter than Khan and has a three-inch reach disadvantage. He’s not known as a power puncher either as his current knockout ratio stands at 48 per cent. He’s a solid pro, but will be stepping up in class once again when facing Khan, but fell short against Porter and Spence when stepping up in class in the past.
Prediction…
Khan needs to use his speed, jab and other boxing skills against Lo Greco to work off the ring rust. He doesn’t want his chin to be tested early until he can get his feet under him, but needs to set a fast and relentless pace to keep Lo Greco on his back foot while landing his shots and using his footwork to circle get out of the way of any counter shots. Some fans may feel Khan’s taking a step backwards by facing Lo Greco, but considering it’s his first bout in nearly two years it’s probably a good idea. As for Lo Greco, like anybody who faces Khan he appears to have a puncher’s chance, but that’s probably about it. He’s a solid pro, but I expect Khan to have his arm raised in victory after 12 rounds or less.
