Lo Greco: Khan’s time is up

Boxingnews247.com

Phil Lo Greco says Amir Khan has his time in boxing, but it’s all over for him now. His time is up. He’s not mentally stable, and he needs to be concerned about his health rather than trying to make more money.

Lo Greco (28-3, 15 KOs) notes that Khan was viciously knocked out in the 6th round in his last fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez, and he’s been out of the ring for 2 years now. He’s not the same fighter mentally, Lo Greco says. He thinks Khan should focus on his family and having a good life at this point.

Lo Greco and Khan will be fighting this Saturday night on Sky at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. This is supposed to be a tune-up fight for the 31-year-old Khan (31-4, 19 KOs), but more than a few boxing fans have doubt whether he’ll make it through the fight in one piece without suffering yet another knockout loss. Khan has been knocked out three times in his career to Briedis Prescott, Danny Garcia and Saul Canelo Alvarez. All three of the knockouts were clinical stoppages with Khan being badly hurt.

READ Lo Greco: I want to beat Khan and get Kell Brook fight

“His last fight, he got seriously hurt, he’s been out for two years. I know mentally he’s not stable,” Lo Greco said to skysports.com. ”At this stage once you pass your 30s and you’re not mentally right up here, it doesn’t matter how gifted you are physically – this isn’t going to work out. His time is up. Like I kept saying in the last press conference, it’s like ‘Streetfighter’ the video game, you run out of lives.”

If Khan loses this fight to Lo Greco, he might just need to think about retiring and enjoying his life. This is supposed to be an easy tune-up fight for Khan, but you never know. Julio Diaz was supposed to have been an easy tune-up fight for Khan in April 2013, and instead it turned out to be a grueling affair that ended in controversy.

Khan was knocked down in the 4th round by Diaz, and hurt several times. Although Khan did win the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision, it’s generally believed that he was given a hometown decision. Khan probably would have lost that fight had it taken place in a neutral country. That was the last time that Khan fought in the UK.

READ Khan vs Lo Greco on April 21 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool

He hasn’t fought there since then. Hopefully, this Saturday’s Khan-Lo Greco fight doesn’t wind up being as controversial as the Diaz fight, but it’s doubtful that it will. If Lo Greco wins the fight, it’s likely going to be by a knockout, because he doesn’t have the greatest boxing skills. Khan is the much better boxer of the two. However, Lo Greco has some pop in his punches, and if he can land enough of his shots, he could KO Khan in short order on Saturday night.

It’s doubtful that Khan will retire even if he gets knocked out by Lo Greco. He’ll probably try and get a rematch with Lo Greco if possible so he can avenge the loss.