Britain's Amir Khan, seeking to end a two bout losing streak, has named Virgil Hunter to replace Freddie Roach as his new trainer and plans to meet unbeaten American fighter Carlos Molina in his next bout.
Britain's Amir Khan, pictured in July 2012, seeking to end a two bout losing streak, has named Virgil Hunter to replace Freddie Roach as his new trainer and plans to meet unbeaten American fighter Carlos Molina in his next bout.
The 25-year-old English boxer announced on his website that he had made the switch in trainers and that his next fight would be against Molina at a US venue with the date yet to be determined.
"I'm really pleased that Virgil Hunter is to become my new trainer," Khan said. "Everyone in boxing knows about his skills and the success he has enjoyed over the last few years.
"I'm looking forward to the start of my training camp and working on some new things with him. With Virgil in my corner, I know that I can get back to the very top of the light-welterweight division."
Khan will train for the fight at Hunter's gymnasium in suburban Oakland, California. Among the fighters Hunter has guided are undefeated world super middleweight champion Andre Ward.
"Amir is an extremely talented fighter and I'm very happy to become his new trainer," Hunter said. "I have seen a lot of him and he has many attributes such as his speed and heart.
"There are certain small aspects of his game that I'm intending to work on in order to help him fulfil his enormous potential."
Khan is 26-3 with 18 knockouts but has lost his past two fights, to unbeaten American pugilist Danny Garcia in a fourth-round knockout last July after coming off worse in a controversial split decision to American Lamont Peterson last December.
Khan lost 10 months ago in Peterson's hometown of Washington and Peterson would later test positive for high levels of testosterone to scuttle a rematch and make his victory even more dubious, though it has yet to be stripped.
Molina, 17-0 with one drawn and seven knockouts, will move up from the lightweight ranks to face Khan.
"Molina is a good fighter who has yet to taste defeat, so I know that he will be very dangerous," Khan said. "He is a tricky fighter who possess a lot of natural speed. I always want to face hungry young fighters and in Molina I'm up against a guy who has ambitions of world title success."