SHEFFIELD (England), April 28: Amir Khan came back from a knockdown to beat a fast-finishing Julio Diaz by unanimous decision at Motorpoint Arena on Saturday.
Amir, trying to recover his reputation after successive losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia in the last 16 months, was cruising early against Diaz, the aging former two-time world lightweight champ.
Then Diaz exposed Amir’s weakness by dumping him with a left hook in the fourth round, and staggered the former world light-welter champ with hooks in the eighth, 10th and 11th rounds.
But Amir (28-3, 19 KO) deserved his slim victory, judged 115-113, 115-112, 114-113. Diaz’s record fell to 40-8-1.
It was another thrilling encounter the Briton was involved in but as exciting as he is, he also showed he is still vulnerable.
Amir, from Bolton in northern England, can now remain hopeful of a rematch with either Garcia or Peterson, the Americans who have beaten him in the last two years.
Promoters Golden Boy had told Amir’s victory would propel him to a shot at the light-welterweight division’s undisputed world champion later this year.
Garcia defended his World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) titles hours after Amir had finished with Diaz, when he unanimously outpointed Zab Judah at the Barclays Center in New York.
Peterson is set to defend his International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt against Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse on May 18.
The winners of Garcia-Judah and Peterson-Matthysse will then meet, and Amir hopes to now face the victor of that unification fight.
And Amir admits he will have to spend more time with his trainer Virgil Hunter in San Francisco after being floored on his way to victory over Diaz.
Amir gets married in New York next month and admits he will be in the United States more with his trainer as well as his soon-to-be-wife Faryal Makhdoom than in his hometown of Bolton in northwest England.
“I know there’s a lot of improvement still to be made, but it’s only my second training camp with Virgil,” he told a news conference.
“Julio took my power and he was a big puncher himself. It’s only going to improve me as a fighter having fights like that. He never took a backwards step.
“I want to spend twice as much time over there. The more time I spend with Virgil, the better I will get. I know what mistakes I made.”
Hunter says Amir must visit him before beginning training for his next fight — probably in December — if he wants to avenge his world title defeats to Garcia and Peterson.
“Right now Amir is at a disadvantage to these other guys who have given him problems because they are with their trainers all the time,” Hunter said. —Agencies