Khan-Alexander, Thurman-Bundu & Andrade-Charlo official for December 13th

By Boxing News - 10/31/2014 - Comments

khan7By Scott Gilfoid: The December 13th Showtime Championship Boxing card is now official with former IBF/WBA 140 pound champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) facing former two division world champion Devon Alexander (26-2, 14 KOs) in the headliner fight at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

This is one of the most stacked non-pay-per-view fight cards of the year by far. In the co-feature, World Boxing Association interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KOs) will be defending his title against the tough 39-year-old Leonard Bundu (31-0-2, 11 KOs).

WBO junior middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade (21-0, 14 KOs) will be facing #2 IBF, #2 WBO, #4 WBC Jermell Charlo (24-0, 11 KOs) in a 12 round bout. The card also has former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-5-2, 22 KOs) against TBA. Additionally, former three division world champion Abner Mares (27-1-1, 14 KOs) will be fighting an opponent still to be determined.

Golden Boy Promotions did a great job of stacking the card with interesting fights/fighters from top to bottom. Even if Ortiz and Mares don’t face interesting opponents, which we still don’t know at this point, the card is still one of the best cards of the year.

Khan, 28, needs an impressive victory over Alexander to put himself in position for a fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2015. If Khan loses to Alexander or if he struggles and looks poor, then he can forget all about a fight against Mayweather next year.

Khan has to look good, and he’s got to resist the urge to run, hold, shove and put Alexander in head-locks like he did his last opponent Luis Collazo.

“Getting back in the ring is all I’ve been looking towards these last few months,” said Khan. “I want to show everybody that I’m a major force at 147 pounds and I’m ready to take on the best. This fight with Alexander has been on the table for a while, but it is finally happening and I plan on winning impressively to show that I am truly one of the best welterweights in the world.”

Alexander is a good start for Khan at 147, but beating him still won’t mean a whole heck of a lot, because Alexander was recently beaten by Shawn Porter. A victory over Alexander will only prove that Khan was able to do what Porter did. If Khan wants to prove himself as a major player at 147, then he’s going to need to take on Keith Thurman and prove that he can beat him.

Khan will likely do a lot of holding and shoving against Alexander in this fight. I wish Khan would resist the urge to use those tactics, because he could wind up losing out on the Mayweather fight even if he beats Alexander if he fights dirty for the full 12 rounds like he did against Collazo.

Keith Thurman has a tough fight against the unbeaten Bundu. This could be the toughest fight of Thurman’s career, because Bundu is an excellent inside fighter, and he does a good job of putting pressure on his opponents. Thurman will need to focus on his defense in this fight, because Bundu will be looking to take him apart on the inside all night long.



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