Britain’s Amir Khan says it’s his head, not his heart, that will put him back on the path to boxing’s summit when he takes on unbeaten American Carlos Molina in December.
“We know we have to win the fight, not only win it but win it in good style,” Khan said on Tuesday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, where he and Molina will face off in a light welterweight bout on December 15.
“I want to be back up there. I want a good win. I aim to win this fight to be back where I want to be.”
Former world champion Khan is coming off two successive defeats, including a fourth-round knockout loss to light welterweight world champion Danny Garcia in July.
Khan has since sacked famed trainer Freddie Roach, mentor of Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao, and says that thanks to his preparations with Virgil Hunter, fans will see “an Amir Khan who is smarter, an Amir Khan who is thinking about everything”.
That’s the prescription from Hunter, who scoffed at the notion that Garcia’s victory indicated Khan had a suspect chin.
Hunter said it wasn’t Khan’s inability to take a punch, but his inability to stick to his strategy after a third-round knockdown, that cost him that fight.