Khan & Fury Win

Saudi Arabia: Amir Khan is back ! Khan outboxed and outclassed a very overmatched Billy Dib (45-6, 26 KOs)on Friday, dropping Dib twice and eventually putting him away, as Dib’s corner threw in the towel in defeat in Round 4.  Khan looked sharp and his speed was once again apparent as he landed very accurately placed combinations to the head and beautifully-positioned body shots throughout the fight.  Khan (34-5, 21 KOs)was coming off of the losing end of a sixth round stoppage to undefeated WBO Welterweight World Champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs)in April.  The win now puts Khan back in the picture – albeit just slightly in the frame.  The reason is due to his fame.  If you have a name in this sport, you’re sure to find an opponent looking to expose it.  Khan is hoping to get a date with Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao later this year.  However, before that can even be a possibility, first the legendary Pacquiao (61-7, 39 KOs)must look good in his bid against WBA Welterweight Champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs)next weekend.  Otherwise, the fight makes no sense.

In the co-main event, we saw the resurgence of Fury.  No, not Tyson, but rather his cousin, Heavyweight prospect Hughie Fury.  Fury (23-2, 13 KOs)looked as if he was on a whole other level when taking on former WBC Heavyweight Champion Samuel “The Nigerian Nightmare” Peter (38-8, 31 KOs).  Peter insisted on fighting dirty:  hitting behind the head, punching during the break, consistently landing low-blows.  A point was deducted and it seemed as if at least another one would be, if not a DQ.  It never came to that, however, as Peter suffered what appeared to be a dislocated left shoulder (wink wink) after claiming the ref created the injury while separating the men during a clinch in the seventh round.  So, chalk it up to a decent performance for Fury, who now tries to position himself back into title contention.  Fury only has two losses on his record.  One was at the hands of then-undefeated former WBO Heavyweight Champion Joseph Parker (26-2, 20 KOs)during an unsuccessful bid for Parker’s belt.  The other was to Kubrat Pulev (27-1, 14 KOs)in Fury’s attempt to pick up a secondary Heavyweight strap.  Look for Fury – clearly a Top 10 Heavyweight – to pop up as a co-main event again soon on a more demanding fight card.

-Mike Feinberg
TFN Reporter