By Hisham Zaben
Maher Khatib is genuinly a real fighter deep down to his spine. The man has no quit in him. He was outmatched, outfought and outpunched in every sense of the meaning but never gave in. There were plenty of opportunities for him to quit against Pasquale Barile. He could have taken a knee, he could have faked an injury, he could´ve even let himself get knocked out. A lot of fighters have done that. Khatib is built differently. I think in all honesty he must have realized early on that this wasn´t going to be his night, to put it mildly.
The real question is, just like I touched on in my prefight analysis: Why on earth was he put in with Pasquale Barile?. If you haven´t read that article I will post a link to it at the end. There was nothing to gain from fighting Pasquale Barile. I wonder how that fight even came to suggestion given Barile´s recent fighting memories in Denmark where he proved the level he was operating on.
The fight against Elias Idrissi (9-0) where he landed the perfect counters to drop and stop a super talented fighter like Idrissi should have raised the big red flags, that this is a no-go zone for an inexperienced fighter like Maher Khatib. If the Idrissi fight wasn´t enough, he had just prior to that in the last 12 months stopped two other undefeated guys. One of them with a perfect record of 9-0 and the other one 13-0. That was Pasquale Barile´s three big wins inside 12 months. You don´t just see that and say; well this is a great fight for Maher Khatib because it obviously wasn´t and the writing was on the wall for this one.
The oddsmakers thought when this fight was made, Oh well if they made the fight in Denmark for Khatib after knowing all of this about Barile then he must be really, really good. When the line opened, they installed Khatib as a –400 favorite (1.25 odds) with Barile an outsider priced at +350. That line was probably the most mispriced fight I have seen during the last year. I make my own lines and in my book Barile was listed as the clear favorite going in to this fight, even considering that he is fighting in Khatibs home country of Denmark. We played that line big and the odds soon started to drop and the fight closed with Khatib still the favorite but not by as big margins as it opened.
When you place a bet on boxing or any sport, the only important thing is the numbers. I don´t have any favorite fighters when I place a bet. I only play the numbers. When there is value in a play, that means your long time ROI (return of investment) will be positive. That is the only important thing. A lot of people close to me all profited from this fight at the expense of Khatib getting an undeserved too tough of fight just in his fifth pro outing.
When you have a fighter like Khatib with his braveness. You embrace his braveness and you don´t do that to him. You give him his time to develop and when he is ready he will not disappoint. When it comes to his determination and toughness he is rated 10/10 and that is something you really can build on. If his technique level improves, he can really go places. The problem with this fight wasn´t just that he was overmatched technically, it was the danger that Barile presents. He has the type of thudding power that can damage a fighter long term. You don´t let him face a puncher like that in his fifth fight. You bring in sparring partners that can punch. Because even when the headgear is on and bigger gloves. He gets used to it in the gym because it´s just not limited to one spot and can develop the proper defense to be able to foresee some of the attacks better and handle it better.
To end it all I will say that Maher Khatib can be proud of himself. He gave it his all and he never stopped trying. I am happy that he ended the fight still standing on his legs, and I wish him all the best and a quick recovery so he can get back on track in his otherwise successful career. For now on out, If you bring in Pasquale Barile a third time to Denmark you better have a fighter that can actually beat him.
God analyse. Men forkert konklusion.
Det var ikke en fejl at sætte Maher op mod Barile. Den matchning solgte billetter, både til dette, men også til de næste stævner. Den beviste at Primetime leverer store oplevelser, ikke kun sikre hjemmebokser-sejre.
Og…. Godt nok var Barile dygtigere (hurtigere, bedre på fødderne, slår hårdere), men var Mahers norske modstander ikke også bedre end Maher? Og lykkedes det ikke Maher at slide ham op og få sejren alligevel, i de sidste runder? Denne gang var der endda flere omgange, og krudttønden Barile ville måske slå sig træt med sine vilde sving.
Den engelske kommentator kaldte kampen en Barnburner. Den slags er der behov for.
Desuden har han alderen imod sig, og har ikke tid til at blive matchet blødt.
Maher tog én for holdet denne gang, og har samtidig – igen – gjort sig til en must-see publikums fighter. Jeg håber han får noget ud af sine anstrengelser på sigt.
Jim Andersen –
For mange af den slags kampe baner potentielt set også en hurtigere vej til plejehjemmet.
Selvom han ikke er dansker ville under alle omstændigheder være fedt at se Barile igen.
Enig med både Kristian og Johnny, Til Johnny vil jeg tilføje at det jo klart er én af grundene til at vi (jeg) er så fascinerede af boksning. At bokserne udmærket ved at de sætter liv og helbred på spil, men alligevel går op i ringen. Og vi håber naturligvis altid på det bedste, og at de kan trække sig tilbage med penge nok på kontoen, og helbred nok til at nyde otiummet.
Jeg sad ved siden af Kessler i Kolding, og han har taget mod flere tæv end Maher formentlig kommer til, og så ud til at være ok. Men jeg er også gammel nok til at kunne huske historien om Johny Jensen.