Eddie Ng: Amir Khan Is The Perfect Athlete To Train

Eddie “The Magician” Ng may not have competed in ONE Championship for the past year and a half, but he has remained busy at Evolve MMA, where he is guiding a new generation of Singaporean talents.

One of those talents includes rising superstar Amir Khan.

Ng will be in Khan’s corner when the lightweight faces Russia’s Timofey Nastyukhin at ONE: QUEST FOR GOLD, which broadcasts live from the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar, on Friday, 23 February.

In this exclusive interview, Ng talks about his friendship with Khan, the talent’s skill set, his thoughts on ONE’s stacked lightweight division, and making a possible return to the cage.

ONE Championship: You have worked with Amir Khan ever since his loss to Shannon Wiratchai in May 2015. Since then, who do you feel have been some of his toughest opponents?

Eddie Ng: I think skill set-wise, his previous bout against Adrian Pang was definitely an interesting match-up. Adrian is extremely well-versed in all ranges of combat. He has dangerous striking. He has knockouts on his record. He is a solid wrestler, and a jiu-jitsu black belt. Not only that, but he has a lot of experience as well. So I think in terms of skill, he was definitely one of the toughest.

Amir’s bout with Vaughn Donayre was also pretty tough. He had to dig down pretty deep there to not tap to that kimura. People who have seen that bout will know what I am talking about. But I would say probably Adrian Pang just for how complete of a martial artist he is.

ONE: What has it been like training him thus far?

EN: If you were a coach, and you wanted the perfect athlete to train, Amir is it. He has all the physical attributes you could ever want. But on top of that, his mindset and his mentality is something you cannot really teach. That is pretty much what pulled him through with that kimura [from Donayre] because, physically, he was in an extremely bad position. The majority of people would have given up for their own safety. Amir did not.

He is like a robot, but a robot that learns. If you say, “Amir, do this,” he will do it perfectly — maybe not on the first time, but the second time, he is nigh on perfect. But he is a robot that learns, in a sense. He does not need you to say, “Amir, do this.” You tell him one thing, and he’s already got it. He already knows why he is doing it, and when to do it.

You do not need to push him to ever do anything. He is one of those athletes that he will take his own initiative to go and do something. If he wants something, he will do it, but he will make it happen by himself. He has so much discipline and self-control.

ONE: Is there anything Amir has specifically worked on for this bout with Timofey Nastyukhin?

EN: Nothing specific, because you never know what can happen. Have a plan, but be ready to scrap the plan in a sense that you never know what might happen in this game. We do not really focus on a specific person, because that can change at any time. The only thing that we can absolutely guarantee is our own performance, and our own improvement. So that is what we always focus on.

With Amir, we just focus on improving our wrestling, our striking, our jiu jitsu – just everything. We are not concerned about what other people do; we are only concerned about what we can do. At the end of the day, that is the only thing that we can control — ourselves and our own progression.

ONE: What can fans expect from this upcoming bout against Timofey?

EN: Amir and Timofey are very similar martial artists in the sense that they both like to strike. They are both gunning for a finish. I think the thing that I see – just judging off previous bouts, and what I know about Amir – is I think Amir has more tools in his tool box.

Timofey is no doubt a very dangerous striker, but so is Amir. Amir has a ton of knockouts. Timofey has a ton of knockouts. But I have never seen Timofey on the ground. I have not seen what his ground skills are like yet. I believe that Amir is a much more complete martial artist.

ONE: Do you think if Amir wins this bout, he could challenge for the ONE Lightweight World Title next?

EN: Definitely, I would think so. Amir has had a lot more wins than what Timofey has. But every single bout Timofey has had, it has been against tough opposition. He has never had an easy bout. The quality of Amir’s opponents has been varied, but recently he has been stepping up his competition, and he has not failed to perform yet.

If he performs against Timofey, then I definitely think he is in line for a world title shot. But then again, there are a lot of other guys as well — Ariel Sexton, Ev Ting, Timofey, Koji Ando, Eduard Folayang is always in the mix. It is a really, really tough division. But Amir is definitely ready for a title shot – 100 percent.

ONE: Finally, can we expect to see you back in the ONE cage at some point?

EN: At the minute, I am focused on helping and developing some of the athletes we have at Evolve. Amir is obviously one of them. Benedict Ang is currently serving National Service, and that is why he is not able to compete [right now]. He is still training, but he cannot put the time aside to compete. There is a lot of homegrown talent as well that I have been working with.

It is a tough question in a sense that, in order for me to do my job correctly and properly, I have to be very selfless. I have to dedicate all of my time and resources to helping these athletes. If you take the role of a coach, the only thing that matters is that person right there. That athlete in front of you is the most important thing, so it cannot be about you at all. But on the other side, in order to compete, you have to be extremely selfish because it has to be about you.

At the end of the day, I am not done. I do want to compete, but my focus at this moment is on the guys that I think I can contribute something towards. They will be successful with or without my help, but I think their chances of being successful are greater with me helping them at this moment.