Amir Khan fought last night. His performance was very Amir Khan-y, in that he got knocked down once, seriously wobbled at least two more times, and generally avoided the pocket like the plague. While he won an ultimately lopsided decision, it wasn't a performance to convince me that he can get back in with real elite fighters. It was entertaining, though, despite some irritating refereeing (which is fairly normal in British fights). Apparently, Amir is looking for a fight with Manny Pacquiao off this win, which... is a fight. Based on this performance, I expect even the old, slow Pacman of 2018/19 would knock Khan out. I don't think he's a realistic prospect at welterweight now.
It's crazy to think that Khan was once in the ring with Canelo Alvarez, trying to do what GGG hopes to do next saturday. After a draw resulting from a travesty of fight scoring, and a brief beef related delay, two of boxing's best pound for pound fighters will meet again on the fifteenth to put the issue to bed for good. I am actually a fully paid up passenger of the hype train this time. GGG went on one of the craziest KO streaks in the division's history before, and now he's felt the sting of letting Adelaide Byrd have any influence on his career, he will be hungry for another knockout. Alvarez has his honour to reclaim, after the beef scandal and the general perception that he lost the first fight. It has all the makings of an epic rematch.
Side note: the next time I hear a boxing commentator use the idiom "weather the early storm" I might break something.
Our discussion of Darren Till above turned out to be moot. He washed out in unimpressive fashion against Tyron Woodley at UFC 228, landing exactly zero significant strikes before submitting to a front choke in the second round. The co-main event featured something that I have never seen before; a cold, one punch knockout in the women's 115 pound (52kg) division. Jessica Andrade GOOMED Karolina Kowalkiewicz with a right hook almost immediately after their fight began. Out cold on the canvas from a single shot. That kind of power is quite literally unprecedented in that division. Kowalkiewicz is considered fairly tough, too. She endured a five round battering from Joanna Violence and a fair few big shots from current champion Rose Namajunas without looking like getting stopped or failing to throw back. To see her getting
Spocked like that is frightening.
The night also featured a submission I can't recall seeing in the UFC before, the "suloev stretch", which you can look up if you want to. I wouldn't advise doing so if you don't like seeing legs bend in ways they shouldn't. Two extremely rare submissions in one night, plus an even rarer strawweight cold cock knockout, make for memorable viewing to compensate for the lost title fight and the underwhelming main event.