De La Hoya: Canelo can’t go up in weight too much for Khan fight

By Boxing News - 03/05/2016 - Comments

delahoya84By Dan Ambrose: If Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya gets his way, his fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez won’t rehydrate too high for his fight against Amir Khan on May 7 on HBO PPV. De La Hoya thinks it’s a bad idea for Canelo to put on a lot of weight for this fight because he thinks it could lead to him slowing down and not having the speed that he’s going to need to follow the speedy quick Khan around the ring at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo said this week that he could rehydrate as high as 190 for the fight. He sees it as his own business if he chooses to do that.

Canelo has been known to rehydrate as high as 175lbs after making weight for his catch-weight fights at 155lbs. However, in Canelo’s last fight against Miguel Cotto last November, Canelo appeared to be at an all-time high in weight. For this particular fight, Canelo was not weighed before he stepped inside the ring by HBO for some reason.

Perhaps it was just something that didn’t happen by mistake or perhaps Canelo wasn’t in the mood to be weighed for this fight. Whatever the case, he looked huge, and might have been over 180. That’s an enormous amount of weight for someone that is weighing in at 155.

If Canelo rehydrated 25+ pounds for the Khan fight, it likely will slow him down because that’s just too much of a shift of water weight in the 24 hours before the fight. That’s not to say that Canelo won’t be incredibly strong in the early rounds of the fight, because fighters that tend to rehydrate huge amounts of weight are often very powerful for four rounds or so. But if Khan is able to take Canelo into the second half of their fight, then he could very well box his way to a decision unless Canelo is able to keep his game together to win some of the later rounds.

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“He felt that was the big event,” De La Hoya said to Fighthype. “Golovkin has a dance partner and a tough one. It’s not an easy walk in the park for Golovkin. Who else can we shock the world with? We like to think outside the box. I’ve known Amir Khan for many years. He’s willing to fight anybody. He’s willing to go up there and take the challenge, and that’s what makes him great. When has Amir Khan ever been in a dull fight? This guy comes with everything and he has speed. The fighters that have given Canelo difficulty where fighters with speed. So Canelo has to be on his A-game. I think Canelo has to make sure he doesn’t go up in weight too much because he wants to keep his speed because Amir Khan is going to come with everything. This is one of those fights where you have the most popular fighter in Mexico against the most popular fighter across the pond going at it in the super week of Cinco de Mayo,” said De La Hoya.

It might not matter what De La Hoya says about wanting to keep Canelo light for this fight. I don’t think he can do that. At 25, Canelo seems to be adding more weight to his frame due to his metabolism starting to slow. I expect him to continue to add more and more weight as he ages until he can no longer drain down to 155 or even make 160. I think Canelo’s destiny will be either super middleweight at 168, or more likely light heavyweight at 175. I don’t think Canelo will grow into a miniature cruiserweight. That would be an insane move for him, but if he keeps adding weight, I think it might be awfully tough for him to make even 175. I see Canelo as basically another Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I think Canelo is just a younger version of Chavez Jr., and I think he works harder. But it doesn’t matter how hard you work. If your body keeps growing, I don’t think there will be anyway soon for Canelo to melt down to 155 to fight at a catch-weight.

When asked about how Canelo will deal with Khan’s speed, De La Hoya said “That’s exactly what I’m going to talk to him about. It’s not about power in this fight. It’s about putting the speed and your punches together because Khan’s going to be moving, and you have to follow him. That’s what’s going to make it exciting. You have to find him, and when Khan gets tagged, he stays there and he fights you because he has a big heart and Amir Khan is never in a dull fight. He’s macho and he wants to go in there and prove to you that he’s stronger than you. That’s what Amir Khan is and that’s why this is going to be an exciting fight,” said De La Hoya.

De La Hoya thinks Canelo has improved since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. Canelo hasn’t lost since then, but he appeared to lose to Erislandy Lara in their fight in 2014. Canelo also has wins over Alfredio Angulo, James Kirkland and Miguel Cotto. Angulo and Kirkland were reportedly both weight drained for the Canelo fight. Canelo’s win over Cotto was a good one, but Canelo also had a big weight advantage in that fight.

“1000 times better,” De La Hoya said about Canelo’s improvement since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. “It’s a whole different Canelo, especially after he fought Miguel Cotto. He now knows he doesn’t have to fight perfect. Everything he wanted to do was be perfect. He didn’t want to be off balance. He didn’t want to throw weird combinations. ‘Just go in there and just fight. Just go in there and throw your punches and land anything you have to land. Don’t get hit. Whatever you have to do just go in there and put on a show.’ He was waiting for the perfect moment, and that’s exactly what he was saying. ‘I was waiting for the perfect moment.’ That’s the biggest flaw of the fight. He was waiting for the perfect moment. If he does that with Khan, it’s going to be very dangerous for Canelo. This fight sells itself. You have two of the most exciting fighters in boxing today. Amir Khan has never been in a dull fight. He’s always given us excitement. Remember [Marcos] Maidana vs. Amir Khan? That was a classic war and fight of the year. I remember Canelo-Cotto. Their styles are going to clash. Styles make fights. This is a classic match-up of speed vs. power,” said De La Hoya.



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