Virgil Hunter: “I know Amir Khan can be better and get better for a fight with Floyd Mayweather”

(Transcribed by Michael Readman) Boxing star Amir Khan is coming off of a solid 2014. After winning fights against former champions Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander, he has set himself up for a potential fight with boxing’s biggest star, Floyd Mayweather Jr. In part one of this interview from the 227th edition of “On The Ropes,” I speak to trainer Virgil Hunter and talk to him about Amir Khan’s victories from last year and what he expects from Khan going forward. I also get Hunter’s views on a Mayweather-Khan fight and if he thinks Khan is ready for the challenge. Additionally Virgil speaks on Amir Khan’s comments on Mayweather’s decline and if he agrees with Khan’s views. Here is what Virgil Hunter had to say.

Jenna J: You recently took Amir Khan to a dominant win over Devon Alexander, what were your thoughts on his performance?

Virgil Hunter: I though his performance was an indicator of his new dedication that he’s implementing into his program and some of the philosophies that he’s been given and has embraced. He sees the results of that, so more than anything, I was pleased with his performance knowing that he knows that he came off of the proper preparation, it came off the proper dedication.

Jenna J: When you undertook this endeavor with Amir Khan, was this what you had envisioned, seeing this type of performance from Amir?

Virgil Hunter: Most certainly. His talent was undeniable and his potential was undeniable, and I think that was one of the great things about him. He realized he was an unfinished product, and if you can get an unfinished product with the capacities and the abilities that he has, then you can bring everything into sync and the sky is the limit. That makes everything exciting right now, where we’re at and also the possibilities of where we can go.

Jenna J: If this fight had actually taken place between Amir and Devon a year ago, like it originally was, do you think we would have seen anything closer or do you think it would be a different type of fight?

Virgil Hunter: You know what Jenna, it would be hard to say a year ago. We were practicing some of the things that I felt Amir needed to add to his repertoire and some things I felt he needed to eliminate, so it would be safe to say that that type of performance probably wouldn’t have materialized, although I’m confident that he most definitely would have won the fight, but the coolness and the calculation that he exhibited, that hadn’t surfaced here. I’m confident that he would have been victorious, but not in that manner.

Jenna J: The name that keeps coming up for Amir Khan is Floyd Mayweather Jr. The talks are that if the Mayweather-Pacquaio fight doesn’t happen, that Amir will get the fight. Do you think Amir is the most ready he’s ever been for that fight now?

Virgil Hunter: I know he can be better and get better for a fight with Floyd, based off of what he showed the other night, certainly that’s a good thing leading into a fight with a fighter of Floyd’s ability, talent and skill. It’s a good introduction and a good prerequisite going into a fight with Floyd and he can’t help but build off of that.

As well as Amir performed in the Collazo fight, it was very obvious that in the Alexander fight that he had even grown past the Collazo fight. It would be safe to say that he’s got a lot in the closet that he can still take off the hanger and unveil, so to speak. His chances going into this fight would be very well represented and it manifests itself in a positive way.

Jenna J: Amir’s been very vocal in the press when he talks about Floyd Mayweather Jr, he’s actually been saying that Floyd has shown signs of decline in recent years. Do you see those things and do you believe that Amir believes what he’s saying?

Virgil Hunter: Well, what I see is most certainly he’s not the same fighter he was before when he was in his twenties or even his late twenties. That doesn’t mean he’s in decline, that means that age — with all of us being subjected to it — has brought on his degrees of reinventing himself and that’s what you have to look at.

I know and I hear exactly what Amir is saying, but you can best bet that when we go to camp and prepare for that fight, that he will be educated thoroughly in the fact that no, he’s not the same guy that you saw five years ago, six years ago. What he is, is a guy who continuously reinvents himself.

A fighter can only reinvent himself when he’s got certain attributes in place from a physical point and also from a mental point and with Floyd’s IQ being at the very top in boxing, and with his physical abilities honed through years, and years of repetition, him reinventing himself is just an adjustment to the times. Everything else is on tap, so he might not hit you with a jab and bring a hook off of it, it might be reverse or he might hit you with one or the other. It’s like Bernard Hopkins reinventing himself.

Only in boxing can a fighter be ridiculed when he’s not the same guy, fighting, that he was twenties but we’ve seen Kobe Bryant, we saw Michael Jordan develop his turn around jumper as the legs started losing some height off his jumping ability. We saw brand new aspects of his game surface and that’s what great athletes do when one thing sort of slips away, they have that ability and that knowledge to bring another ingredient into it so to speak, that’s gonna benefit them still as a fighter.

I think that that Floyd has proven that, so no, he’s not the same guy he was when he was in his twenties but he’s the same guy mentally and he’s the same guy physically on what he’s built through the years of repetition, so that makes him dangerous.