Amir Khan slammed by His own Trainer Virgil Hunter

American boxing coach Virgil Hunter has publicly slammed Amir Khan for the lack of practice he does.

In April 2018, Khan suffered a loss against welterweight champion Terence Crawford in controversial circumstances. He could not continue following a low blow in the sixth round.

Khan received a lot of criticism after the bout and even Crawford questioned whether Khan had just given up and “quit”.

The boxer later claimed that it was his corner who pulled him out of the fight.

He wrote on Twitter: “I have never quit a fight in my life, my understanding was that Virgil asked if the low blow still hurt and I said yes.”

Since then, Khan’s trainer has publicly condemned the former world champion.

According to Givemesport, Virgil Hunter says Khan does not do enough training in between fights. He said:

“I would like to see him commit to many training camps in between fights and to work on his weaknesses before he makes that final decision to really see if his skills are gone, or if he is just letting them lay in a pile and deteriorate slowly.

“He never has practice in between fights. He trains hard for 10 weeks but it’s not enough.

“There’s little things that he does that cause him to be out of sync.”

Despite being only 32-years-old, Khan has had quite a long career. In a 14-year boxing career, he has amassed 33 wins and five losses.

Khan burst onto the scene in 2004 when he won an Olympic silver medal. He went on to become a unified light-welterweight champion in 2011.

He continued to fight regularly until 2016 when he suffered a knockout loss at middleweight to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Following the defeat, Khan took some time off and returned 23 months later. He won two more fights before his loss to Crawford.

Hunter added: “His timing is off. His distance is not where it should be.

“He doesn’t have a sense of range and distance and those things are not due to age. That’s from practice.”

“His hand speed is still there but his sense of distance and range is not there and that’s what he needs to work on.”

Boxing analyst for the BBC, Steve Bunce praised Khan’s heart for the sport but believes it may be time for him to retire.

While it does not spell the end for Khan, especially at 32, some feel that he needs to retire sooner rather than later.