LOS ANGELES  - Britain's Amir Khan says it's his head, not his heart, that will put him back on the path to boxing's summit when he takes on unbeaten American Carlos Molina in December.
"We know we have to win the fight, not only win it but win it in good style," Khan said Tuesday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, where he and Molina will face off in a light welterweight bout on December 15. "I want to be back up there. I want a good win. I aim to win this fight to be back where I want to be."
Former world champion Khan is coming off two successive defeats, including a fourth-round knockout loss to light welterweight world champion Danny Garcia in July. Khan has since sacked famed trainer Freddie Roach, mentor of Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao, and says that thanks to his preparations with Virgil Hunter, fans will see "an Amir Khan who is smarter, an Amir Khan who is thinking about everything".
That's the prescription from Hunter, who scoffed at the notion that Garcia's victory indicated Khan had a suspect chin. Hunter said it wasn't Khan's inability to take a punch, but his inability to stick to his strategy after a third-round knockdown, that cost him that fight. "He has to temper his approach," Hunter said. "He's a little ahead of himself, he has to learn how to harness his speed."
Khan, 26-3 with 18 knockouts, admitted that the loss to Garcia -- coming after he dropped a controversial split decision to American Lamont Peterson -- was especially bitter. "I think I let him and his father get to me," Khan said. "I lost my cool. I could have just boxed him and I tried to get into a fight with him and I got into his game."
Hunter, who trains unbeaten super-middleweight world champion Andre Ward, has counselled Khan that boxing is about business, not revenge. But Khan clearly has Garcia in the back of his mind, saying that's a rematch he'd like to make before perhaps moving up from the 140-pound division.
First, however, comes the 17-0 Molina, who says he's looking forward to fighting in front of home fans in a venue that has hosted Olympic boxing as well as three Muhammad Ali fights. Khan says his preparations are progressing quietly in the peace and quiet of Hunter's Oakland gym, which has none of the hubbub of Roach's Wild Card gym in Hollywood.
"We all know he's a great trainer," Khan said of Roach. "(But) I need to be with someone who can spend 100 percent of time with me." Khan also likes training outside Britain, where his private life has become tabloid fodder. "It is a distraction when you're preparing for a fight," he said.