By Allan Fox: Trainer Kenny Porter thinks Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) has an opportunity to outbox the bigger WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their mega-fight on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view.
Kenny, the father/trainer of former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter, understands that it is going to be a huge jump up in weight for the 29-year-old Khan, who has been fighting at welterweight the last couple of years. However, Kenny likes the teaming of Khan with trainer Virgil Hunter. He thinks the two of them could come up with a great game plan that will enable Khan to box his way to a decision victory over Canelo.
The chances of Khan getting a knockout over Canelo are very slim. If Khan tries to KO Canelo, it could end badly for him. Khan must focus on trying to win a decision in the same way that Floyd Mayweather Jr. did in his 12 round decision win over Canelo in 2013.
“It’s a great fight,” Kenny said to Thaboxingvoice about Canelo-Khan. “Obviously, it’s a big jump in weight for this guy [Khan]. Khan and [trainer] Virgil [Hunter], that’s a heck of a team. Right now, I see him [Khan] having the opportunity to out-box this kid [Canelo]. But at the same time, this kid has learned a lot from taking fights with [Miguel] Cotto and taking fights with [Floyd] Mayweather. I think Mayweather took him to school, and he learned from that well,” said Kenny.
Hunter will definitely come up with a good game plan for Khan to use against Canelo in this fight. Whether the game plan will be enough for Khan to win is another question. Khan did not look good in his last fight against welterweight Chris Algieri last year in May. Algieri bulked up for the fight and put a lot of pressure on Khan the entire 12 rounds.
It is unclear whether Khan was not prepared for that kind of fight, or if he simply did not have the skillset to handle being pressured for the entire bout. Whatever the case, Khan did not make adjustments, and he struggled for the entire. It was fortunate for Khan that he was able to get a win over Algieri because many boxing fans felt that Khan lost.
If Khan could not even handle the pressure that was being put on him by a light puncher like Algieri, then how is he going to be able to handle the heat that Canelo will be putting on him on May 7? Canelo is bigger than Algieri, and a lot stronger. Algieri looked like he had rehydrated to the low 160s for the Khan fight.
Canelo will most likely come in around 175. He will definitely be bigger than Algieri was, and he’ll have much better punching power as well. This will easily be the biggest puncher that Khan has ever faced before. Khan has been in hard hitters like Marcos Maidana, Danny Garcia and Breidis Prescott. The Prescott fight took place at lightweight [135], and the Maidana and Garcia fights were at light welterweight [140].
The Canelo-Khan fight will be taking place at middleweight at a catch-weight of 155lbs. Never the less, Canelo will obviously rehydrate up in weight a great deal and Khan will be facing a fighter a lot bigger than 155lbs when he steps foot inside the ring on May 7. It’s possible that Canelo’s weight advantage will work against him in this fight because it’ll make him slower, easier to hit and not as fast on his feet compared to Khan.
You can argue that Khan is the most mobile fighter that Canelo has ever seen before. Mayweather wasn’t as fast on his feet as he was earlier in his career when he fought Canelo in 2013. Khan is faster on his feet than other fighters that have faced Canelo like Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara.
It’s possible that Canelo will be too slow and flat-footed to catch Khan and deliver his big power shots. For Canelo to get the most power on his shots, he needs his opponents to be stationary and standing directly in front of him. Canelo isn’t able to get the most power on his punches when he’s facing a guy that is constantly moving. Canelo can still hit a moving target, but he isn’t able to generate the kind of punching power that will hurt them badly.
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