By Scott Gilfoid: Former world champion Carl Froch thinks that the much smaller and weaker welterweight Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) has a chance to pull off an upset over WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight on HBO PPV on May 7. Khan, 29, is likely to be a significant underdog in this fight because he’ll be giving away from 25 to 30 pounds to the much heavier Canelo.
At best, Khan might come into the fight at 155lbs, which will pale in comparison to Canelo, who is said by some to be weighing in the region of 185lbs after he rehydrates for his fights. Froch respects Khan for taking the fight, because it takes a lot of courage to fight someone that much heavier than him.
Canelo is even heavier than Froch was during his career. Froch stayed in the 170s for his fights at super middleweight. That kind of tells how out of proportion Canelo is in the middleweight division, especially with his habit of fighting at a catch-weight of 155lbs.
Canelo is the new Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., a fighter that excelled at taking off massive amounts of weight to make the 160lb limit for the middleweight division, and then rehydrating huge amounts of weight to gain advantage over his much lighter opponents.
“I was as surprised as everyone when on Tuesday night I found out that he’d be taking on Saul Alvarez but the more I think about it, he can definitely pull off an even bigger shock and win,” Froch said to skysports.com. “If Khan uses his speed and his range and stays on his toes for the full 12 rounds, he has a real chance. He has great boxing ability – we know that.”
It’s a big if whether Khan can pull off the upset in this fight, because it’s going to require for him not to get nailed by something big from Canelo that can take his head off. Canelo, 25, is really good at setting up powerful uppercuts that are pretty devastating.
I think Khan can take some of Canelo’s left hooks and right hands without dropping for the 10 count, but if he gets nailed by one of Canelo’s perfectly timed uppercuts, I don’t see him surviving that kind of punch. In other words, there will be no coming back if Khan gets tagged by an uppercut from the Mexican star.
Canelo loves to throw uppercuts nowadays, especially with the success he had with that punch in his fights against Miguel Cotto and James Kirkland.
Canelo is going back to that punch again and again. Khan can avoid the shot if he stays on the outside and doesn’t let Canelo crowd him. However, Canelo still likes to throw uppercuts from long range, which is a stupid thing to do, but the power is much less reduced on those shots than when he can throw them at close range. Canelo has a lot of bad habits in his game, but he gets away with it due to his good chin and the fact that he usually faces guys that aren’t huge punchers. Canelo will need to fix those flaws when/if he faces Gennady Golovkin in the future.
Stop complaining about middle champ @Canelo vs welter @AmirKingKhan. Study history like @THEREALBHOP–@OscarDeLaHoya &Hagler-@SugarRayLeonard
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) February 2, 2016
“To take Canelo on – up at least 10lbs in weight – deserves the utmost respect and for the fans it will be a great fight. For Khan, it will be a huge risk but I honestly think he can win this,” Froch said. “Taking on Canelo is a massive, brave gamble. But there is also a chance that Khan could surprise us all again and actually win.”
I don’t know whether you can pour compliments over Khan’s head about him being brave and all like Froch says. It’s not as if Khan isn’t going to get a huge payday out of the fight. I mean, if they offered me $5 million or more to get inside the ring with Canelo, I’d take it and I wouldn’t be making a big deal about how brave I am. I would see it as a practical thing. Khan has limited options at this point to get big paydays like the one he’ll be receiving against Canelo. The only big money fights out that for Khan, now that Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have rejected him for fights, is Canelo, Kell Brook and possibly Gennady Golovkin.
If Khan fights Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Tim Bradley or Shawn Porter, those aren’t huge money fights for Khan. He’ll get decent money, but he won’t get the big cash because you can’t make those fights pay-per-view in the U.S. The only guys that Khan can make big money fighting is Canelo, Brook and Golovkin, unfortunately. Khan wouldn’t make anything if he chose to fight one of the dangerous junior middleweights like Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade or Erislandy Lara. Freddie Roach, the trainer for Miguel Cotto, said that Khan was already rejected for a fight against Cotto.
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