Amir Khan vs Billy Dib Preview July 12th
Former world champions Amir Khan of England and Billy Dib of Australia will meet on Friday, July 12th in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The 12-round bout will be for the vacant WBC International Welterweight Title and can be seen live in the UK on Channel Five. Khan last fought in April when he was stopped by Terence Crawford in the sixth round in a shot at the WBO Welterweight Crown. Dib was also in the ring in April when he stopped Surachet Tongmala in the first round in a lightweight battle.
Khan vs Dib Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Billy Dib +1183
- Amir Khan -2008
My Pick
This will be Khan’s fourth bout after a two year layoff. He stopped Phil Lo Greco after just 39 seconds in his first comeback fight in April of 2018 before beating Samuel Vargas by 12-round unanimous decision five months later. He was then derailed by Crawford in April. Khan was nailed by a low blow and instead of taking the five minutes recovery time allowed he informed referee David Fields that he didn’t want to continue.
The 32-year-old Khan of Bolton is a former World Junior Welterweight and British Commonwealth Lightweight Champion who enters the contest at 33-5 with 20 Kos. His sixth-round stoppage loss to Canelo Alvarez in a shot at the WBC Middleweight Title in May, 2016 snapped a five-fight winning streak with victories over Chris Algieri, Devon Alexander, Luiz Collazo, Julio Diaz and Carlos Molina. Khan has lost five fights during his career with four of them coming by stoppage and it’s well known his chin is often questionable even though he has stood up to some solid punchers.
His first loss was a first-round stoppage to Breidis Prescott in 2008 and he then dropped highly-controversial split decision to Lamont Peterson in December of 2011. He was stopped by former WBC Champion Danny Garcia in the fourth round in his very next fight in July of 2012 and was also KO’d by Alvarez. Some felt he quit against Crawford while others felt he didn’t, but he should have taken the full five minutes before making up his mind if he was going to continue or not.
Khan has faced and beaten some of the best boxers of his weight divisions over the years such as Marco Antonio Barrera, Zab Judah, Andriy Kotelnik, Paulie Malignaggi and Marcos Maidana as well as those mentioned above on his five-bout winning streak. In fact, Khan’s gone 10-4 with 2 Kos against former and current world champions. He enjoyed a fine amateur career and capped it off with a silver medal in the lightweight division at the 2004 Olympics as a 17-year-old.
Khan turned pro in 2005 and now has 228 rounds under his belt since then with a decent knockout ratio of 53 per cent. He stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a reach of 71 inches and possesses fine boxing skills, speed and movement in the ring. He’s not known as a power puncher, but managed to stop Judah and deck Maidana and Collazo. Khan is a fine boxer with a questionable chin but isn’t considered elite anymore. However, neither is Dib so this should be a somewhat competitive fight.
Dib is a former IBF Featherweight Champion who is now 33 years old and has plenty of pro experience under his belt with 318 rounds boxed since turning pro back in 2004. Dib carries a record of 45-5 with him along with 26 Kos. He’s an underrated boxer, but has suffered two defeats at the hands of Evgeny Gradovich as well as losses to Takashi Miura and Steve Luevano. His first loss was to Luevano by 12-round unanimous decision back in 2008. He then dropped a split decision to Gradovich five years later to lose his Featherweight Title and was stopped in the ninth round of their rematch eight months later.
Dib was also stopped by Miura in the third round in May of 2015 and dropped a unanimous decision to Tevin Farmer in a shot at the vacant IBF Super Featherweight Title last august. Dib is just over 5-feet-7-inches tall with a reach of 70.5 so is more or less the same size as Khan. Since turning pro after a fine amateur career of 98-15, Dib’s won the IBF Pan Pacific, Interim WBC Youth, IBF Pan Pacific Youth, IBO Super Featherweight, and IBO Asia Pacific Featherweight Titles as well as the IBO Asia Pacific and Australian Super Featherweight Title.
In addition, Dib also won the vacant IBF World Featherweight Title in July of 2007 by beating Jorge Lacierva by a unanimous decision. He defended it against Alberto Servidei by first-round stoppage and then stopped Eduardo Escobedo after six rounds before losing it on points to Gradovich. Dib has been stopped twice, but still has a pretty decent chin. As for his own power, he doesn’t really have a lot of it with a current knockout ratio of 49 per cent. He has good boxing skills and footwork along with decent hand speed but might want to initiate a brawl against Khan due to the Englishman’s chin.
Prediction…
This is going to be a hard fight for Dib to win since he’s fighting at welterweight for the first time. His previous high weight was just over 135 lbs in April so he’s making a 12 lb jump in weight. Khan’s chin isn’t the best but Dib isn’t known for his power and who knows how much pop he’ll have as a welterweight. Khan’s speed, skills and punch output are among the best and as long as he can take Dib’s power shots I expect him to win the vacant crown.
Khan’s naturally a lot bigger than Dib and this will make a huge difference.
Play: Khan -2008 @ BetOnline.ag
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Amir Khan betting • Billy Dib betting