By Dan Ambrose: Super middleweight George Groves was surprised like many people about the news of Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) getting a title shot against WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) on May 7. It was such a surprise because Khan fights at welterweight, not middleweight, and he’s been rejected by the top fighters Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao for fights recently.
No one figured that a popular guy like Canelo would choose to fight Khan because it’s a move that would make Canelo look bad due to his huge size advantage over Khan.
“It’s shocking news. I think he [Khan] took everyone by surprise,” Groves said to skysports.com. “It’s fantastic for Khan. He’s taking on one of the best pound-for-pound fighters [Canelo] out there. It’s a brand new weight class for him. What Amir has is his hand speed. He’s going to give anyone problems because he’s so fast.”
Hand speed can help fighters when they’re facing guys of equal size or smaller. But if you’re dealing with a guy that is 15 to 30 pounds heavier than you like Canelo, hand speed goes out the window and isn’t enough. If Khan is nailing a fighter much heavier than him with his best shots, it’s not likely going to slow Canelo down at all. In that case, Khan will need to focus entirely on hitting and moving the entire fight if he wants to keep from getting pummeled.
Khan needs to be thinking of winning a decision by out-boxing Canelo rather than trying to hurt him or stop. The good thing that Khan has in his favor is his Olympic experience. If he focused on just trying to land fast punches to score points rather than to hurt, then he could win enough rounds to win a decision. But he’s going to need to be hitting and moving at all times because Canelo hits so hard and he’s got the reach to hit Khan when he’s on the outside.
“He’s going to be the lighter guy naturally against Canelo,” Groves said. “Canelo is a fantastic fighter. He will most likely be a heavy favorite in this fight. Khan could give him problems. He’ll definitely give him things to think about and worry about, because of his hand speed.”
Khan can give Canelo problems, but you have to remember that Khan was stopped in 2012 by a smaller and arguably weaker fighter than Canelo in Danny Garcia. Khan couldn’t handle Garcia’s left hook in that fight and he ended up getting knocked out in the 4th. If Khan couldn’t handle Garcia’s punching power, then the chances are that he won’t be able to handle Canelo’s big hooks and uppercuts. Khan made the mistake of leaving himself open to Garcia’s big shots by being too aggressive in that fight. If Khan had fought defensively the entire fight, he would have had a good chance of winning the fight. In a fight against Canelo, Khan will need to be fighting smart the entire 12 rounds, because if he slips up and tries to slug with Canelo, then the fight could end quickly with Canelo stopping him.
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