Amir Khan replaces Virgil Hunter with Clarence Adams!
It appears welterweight star Amir Khan has made some significant changes to his team, again. He has parted ways with head trainer Virgil Hunter to train with Clarence “Bones” Adams.
It was just one fight ago that Hunter and Khan were able to link back up after spending two camps apart due to an illness suffered by Hunter.
During that time, he trained with Joe Goosen. Under Goosen, he would win back-to-back fights over Phil Lo Greco and Samuel Vargas in 2018.
Those wins earned Khan a shot at welterweight champion and pound-for-pound kingpin Terrence Crawford. During the lead up to that fight, Khan expressed his excitement to finally be back with Hunter. He feels Hunter has cornered him to his best victories in the sport.
The Crawford vs Khan Controversey
The fight with Crawford ended in confusion and controversy, as Khan appeared to be on the receiving end of a low blow in round 6. He was afforded time to recover, but after a conversation with Hunter, the fight was halted.
This left fans to question whether or not the Olympic silver medalist was looking for a way out. However, it was further revealed that it was in fact Virgil that asked for the fight to be stopped.
He didn’t like the way the fight was going despite the low blow, and didn’t want to see his fighter get hurt.
One has to assume that this may have played a role in the split, as Khans comments since that fight seem to reveal he believes he wasn’t given a fair chance to win.
What Adams Brings to the Table
Amir Khan has a fight with the unheralded Neeraj Goyat scheduled for July 12th. The fight is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and headlines a card with the theme of Pakistan vs India.
Khan will be paid handsomely for fighting his relatively inexperienced opponent as the reported purse is 8 millions dollars.
As for training camp for the fight, Khan has linked up with the aforementioned Clarence “Bones” Adams. Not yet a household name in terms of world class trainers, that doesn’t necessarily means Adams doesn’t know his stuff. He was a WBA super bantamweight champion once upon a time with a 20 years career that saw him win 44 of 55 career fights.
Adams was in the news in 2015 for catching a minor jail sentence for his involvement in a drug/prostitution ring. Adams admittedly played a small role in the organization, as he was a driver for the limousine company that was caught up in the bust.
As for how Adams can help Khan return to former glory remains to be seen. Although, he does have a little experience working with naturally gifted fighters like Khan.
Previously, we’ve seen him in the corners of Yuriorkis Gamboa and Nonito Donaire in the past. If a new trainer, and different perspective is what Khan needs, then who are we to judge?
But if history teaches us anything it’s that the revolving door of drama that surrounds Amir Khan isn’t changing anytime soon.
By: Tanner Gill
