By Allan Fox: WBA light welterweight champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner is predicting that Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) will be victorious in his fight three months from now against the younger, bigger and stronger WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Broner doesn’t say why he believes Khan will win the fight. You would have to imagine that the oddsmakers are going to be giving the 29-year-year-old British fighter very little chance of winning the fight.
Khan is going to have his work cut out for him in moving up from the welterweight division to face the heavier Canelo at middleweight. While Canelo will be spotting Canelo five pounds by facing him at a catch-weight of 155lbs, it matters little, because Canelo rehydrates well into the 170s and some think he’s now 180-pounder for his fights at middleweight.
Canelo doesn’t show signs of ever being weakened by dehydrating and then rehydrating so much weight. He’s able to get away with it still because he’s in his mid-20s. Just how much longer Canelo can continue to take off so much weight is unclear. Never the less, it probably won’t matter even if Canelo does come into the Khan fight slightly weakened from having taken off so much weight because he’s going to be at a huge advantage in this fight because of his size and power advantage.
“I know Canelo fights the best and wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to face me like others have,” Khan said to Yahoo Sports. “My goal is to always fight the biggest names and the best fighters that is why I’m excited for this fight. Also, I would like to thank my team and Golden Boy Promotions for this opportunity. I know I have the speed and ability to beat him and will give my fans what they deserve on 7 May.”
Khan will need to use a lot of speed and mobility for him to be able to pull off the upset over Canelo, because he’ll surely lose if he remains stationary like most of Canelo’s opponents have done.
The blueprint is there in how to beat Canelo. Floyd Mayweather Jr. created the blueprint in how to beat Canelo in his easy 12 round decision win over him in their fight in 2013. Mayweather used a strong jab, fast right hand pot shots, occasional left hooks and a lot of movement to dominate Canelo. Mayweather’s use of pot shots and movement made it an easy fight.
The 5’8 ½” Khan is even taller than Mayweather with faster hands, so he should in theory be able to do the same things to Canelo that Mayweather did if he chooses to box him and not present a stationary target. Erislandy Lara was able to control stretches of his fight against Canelo in their fight in 2014. Where Lara went wrong is he used too much movement, and didn’t throw enough punches for him to get the decision with the judges. There’s a fine balance of movement and punching that a fighter has to use to beat Canelo.
If you move too much and don’t punch enough, then the judges will give the fight to Canelo, even though you can argue that his opponents won the fight. Lara and Austin Trout both did enough to deserve a win over Canelo in the minds of a lot of boxing fans, but the reason why they didn’t get the nod with the judges is because they didn’t throw enough punches.
The #boxing world gets excited for #CaneloKhan, coming May 7, 2016 in Las Vegas pic.twitter.com/Vx9J2eVKIW
— Getty Images Sport (@GettySport) February 2, 2016
“As the middleweight champion of the world, I will take on the best fighters in the sport and, on Cinco De Mayo weekend, I look forward to making the first defense of my titles,” Canelo said. “Amir was a decorated amateur, a two-time world champion, and is in the prime of his career. Fans are in for a great fight.”
This could be a nightmarish fight for Canelo if Khan is able to duplicate the same game plan that Mayweather used in beating Canelo. Khan certainly has the hand speed and mobility to do everything that Mayweather did. Khan will just need to be disciplined, avoid standing in front of Canelo for long periods, and he’ll need to be able to handle the occasional heavy shots from the red-haired Mexican.
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