Khan working on special game plan to defeat Canelo

By Boxing News - 02/10/2016 - Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ErA35kApS8

By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) says he and his trainer Virgil Hunter are both working on a special game plan that they will be perfecting to defeat the bigger, stronger, “flat-footed” WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight on May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Khan says he’s not going to just stand in front of Canelo in this fight, and he’s not going to try and trade with him. More than any fight that he’s ever had, Khan says he’ll be fighting in a smart manner by boxing Canelo and not look to take chances like he’s done before.

The fights that Khan has lost have been ones where he was caught with big power shots while attempting to land his own punches. The one exception was Khan’s loss to Lamont Peterson in 2011. In that fight, Khan was pressured all night long, and he didn’t seem to be fully prepared for the kind of relentless pressure that Peterson put on him. However, Khan still would have won the fight if the referee hadn’t twice penalized him for pushing off. You normally don’t see fighters getting penalized for pushing off, and it was odd that this referee twice took points away from Khan.

“I’m in training camp now. There’s a certain style I’m focusing on, Canelo’s style,” Khan said to skysports.com. “I’m going to be training. I hope to beat him. I’m setting a game plan up. The serious training is going to start in San Francisco in an area called Hayward. It’s going to be a massive fight for me. I’m going to make history in this fight. I’m going to be fighting for the middleweight title, for the WBC middleweight title. I really believe in myself. I really think I can win this fight, and shut the doubters up. It’s going to be a tough fight. It’s not going to be easy, but I really think I’ve got the tools for it,” Khan said.

Khan is almost unbeaten when he’s fighting smart, and moving around the ring. As long as Khan is throwing single shots and moving, he’s very hard to beat. I don’t care how big Canelo is, Khan will make it very hard for him to land more than one shot at a time.

Khan has the speed to land more shots than Canelo, especially if he stays on the outside and doesn’t let Canelo crowd him. Khan has the longer reach, and the better jab. It goes without saying that Khan is the more mobile fighter of the two.

YouTube video

Canelo is going to find it very difficult to try and stay up with Khan if he elects to move around the ring. Canelo doesn’t even move as well as Marcos Maidana, a fighter that Khan easily beat in 2010.

“Stylistically, it’s a great fight for me. It’s a good match-up. That’s the reason to take the fight,” said Khan to BoxNation. “I want to be 165 and strong. I’m not going to be standing in the ring waiting for him to hit me. I’m going to box him smartly. He’s a little bit shorter than me. I’m going to be smart in there. He’s very thick. He’s very heavy and very dense. He’s one guy that I won’t stand and trade with him. I think this fight will bring the best out of me because it will make me think. It will make me box and stick to a game plan. I know one mistake can get me in trouble. I’m doing a lot of strength and conditioning training. I’m going to be ready for this fight. I really believe I can beat him. I really believe I’ve got the skills, the movement, the speed and the power to beat Alvarez just to make history as well.”

Canelo is slower, bigger version of Luis Collazo. Khan easily beat Collazo in 2014 in winning a one-sided 12 round decision. If Khan was able to do that to Collazo, then there’s an excellent chance that he’ll be able to school Canelo for 12 rounds and win a fairly one-sided 2 round decision. I don’t think Canelo is going to be able to handle Khan’s speed, jabs, movement and pot shots in this fight.



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