Angulo can knock Canelo out, says Khan

By Boxing News - 03/04/2014 - Comments

canelo6767By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan worked on sparring with Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s) for weeks in Oakland, California to get him ready for his match-up against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) this Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan learned a lot from Angulo, and enough to know that he has the potential to knock the red-headed Canelo out if he lands with a good shots. Khan thinks Canelo won’t be fighting Angulo in a toe-to-toe fashion on Saturday night, but rather in more of a boxing match in order to take advantage of his skills and quickness.

“You can be sure that he’ll force Canelo to work every minute of every round,” Khan said. “Sharing the ring with hi I know what he’s bringing to this fight and believe me it won’t be an easy night for Canelo.”

I think Canelo’s fight against Austin Trout has already established there really are no easy fights at all for Canelo when he’s facing a legitimate junior middleweight and not another one of the welterweights that Golden Boy Promotions keeps pulling up from the 147 lb division to fight him. Angulo has the power and size to hurt Canelo, and there’s probably not going to be much of the so-called “toe-to-toe” action that Golden Boy has used as part of their theme for this fight. They called the Canelo vs. Floyd Mayweather fight “The One,” when it probably should have been “The Two,” because Canelo was a poor substitute for Manny Pacquiao.

Canelo will without a doubt choose to box Angulo and ape the fighting style used by Kermit Cintron when he out-boxed a sick Angulo back in 2009. Canelo won’t be able to copy completely what Cintron did against Angulo, because he doesn’t have the mobility to fight Angulo like that. If Canelo tries to move for 3 minutes of every round, we could see Canelo turn red and seize up like an old car giving up the ghost on a steep hill.

The thing is if Canelo gets tired against Angulo, he’s a goner and will get blasted out. The ropes, which is where Canelo spent the entire second half of his fight against Austin Trout, will be spider trap for Canelo if he retreats and tries to fight Angulo from that vantage point. Canelo has to be able to move around the ring for 3 minutes of every round, there’s no ifs or buts about it. It’s probably not realistic to assume that the 23-year-old Canelo will be able to do this because he’s never been able to move for more than a round or two before getting exhausted and needing to rest for 3-4 rounds.

“I’m expecting Angulo to be the aggressor in the fight and for Canelo to try and counter and use his boxing skills,” Khan said. “Alfredo’s skills are underrated and you don’t really get an idea of the subtle things he does really well until you get in the ring with him. He’s got serious power in either hand and has the ability to knock Canelo out.”

Sparring with Khan will likely help Angulo a lot, because he’s so much faster and moves so much better than Canelo. Going from the speedy Khan to the flat-footed, stamina-plagued Canelo, will give Angulo a big advantage.



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