Canelo vs. Khan: a genuine mismatch or casual fan’s dream fight?

By Boxing News - 02/02/2016 - Comments

khan3434By Gerardo Granados: It was announced all over internet earlier today that next May 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, former /IBFWBA light welterweight belt holder Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) will fight against the current 155 WBC belt holder Saul Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) on HBO pay-per-view from the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Not only Amir Khan should have fought against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook next in a huge UK fight that Brook wanted to take place in the summer, but Alvarez should focus in getting ready to fight Gennady Golovkin next instead of hand pick opponents that do not represent a real challenge.

The other day, talking to a friend I told him that Golovkin might as well could get #1 WBC Sebastian Heiland next. The thing is we never considered an opponent below 160 for Gennady. However, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De la Hoya really dug deep in the 147 division and got a glass chin soft puncher for the 155 belt holder Canelo’s next fight.

How is Canelo supposed to get ready to fight against Gennady Golovkin by fighting once again at 155? How can he get ready to deal with a real middleweight fighting against a welterweight? How can naive fight fans buy into the hype? How can anyone think this is a real competitive “title” bout? How can I not be mad after seeing this mismatch “proudly announced”?

I will review the fight for the readers who might be interested to watch it next May 7. The fight will be hyped by all means necessary.There will be all kind of excuses made for the lousy catch-weight, and on payroll boxing analyst will try to justify this mismatch as if Khan has real chance to win.

The fight will develop as follows; Khan will try to outbox Canelo, and also use his great speed and mobility. Canelo will use head upper body movement and get inside or at middle range, throwing sharp power punches. Once Khan notices he simply can’t hurt Canelo, he will turn into survival mode trying to counter and run. Canelo will walk down a brave Khan, but once Alvarez lands a big clean shot the fight will come to an end, be it stopped by the referee or by Amir´s corner.

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NO, Khan cannot outbox Canelo. Not even if Alvarez doesn’t have great footwork. If Danny Garcia landed clean, if Chris Algieri connected clean thru 12 rounds, what makes you think that Saul Alvarez won’t be able to land a clean on Amir? Khan isn’t a big puncher at welter, how can he hurt Canelo who possibly will weigh plus 175 pounds at fight night?

Please don’t get me wrong; I respect Khan for taking a fight against Canelo, because it is clear he is a huge underdog. I think he has little to no chance to win the fight. I don’t think he even has a punchers chance. I do feel that have lost the little respect that I had for Oscar De la Hoya for making the Canelo-Khan fight. As for Canelo, I hope he doesn’t end up disappointing his fans by avoiding Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.

I think the answer is blatantly obvious, but still I will ask. Is this a genuine mismatch between Canelo and Khan or is it a casual fans dream fight?



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