By Dan Ambrose: Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport thinks Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) is going to taste defeat against WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight on May 7.
Hearn, who promotes IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, believes that Khan will have his moments early in the fight, and will likely out-box the 25-year-old Canelo. However, at some point in the fight, Khan will need to exchange shots with Canelo, and when that happens, Hearn expects Khan to get knocked out by one of Canelo’s heavy shots.
Hearn notes that Floyd Mayweather Jr. was able to out-box Canelo in their fight in 2013, but that wasn’t Khan. That was Mayweather. Hearn doubts that Khan will be able to do the same thing that Mayweather did against the younger Canelo three years ago.
“Discipline is key in this fight, but he’s [Khan] going to have to trade at times, and if he gts hit, he’s going to get knocked out,” said Hearn to Fighthype. “You can tell by pictures, he [Khan] ain’t a light middleweight. He certainly ain’t a middleweight. He’s going to have to get in and get in and let his shots go. The same thing he did against Devon Alexander, but he [Canelo] ain’t Devon Alexander. This is Canelo Alvarez. We’ve seen him out-boxed before, but that was by Floyd Mayweather. I think Khan will out-box him, especially early on. But they will trade, and he will get caught and I think he’ll get stopped.
You have to wonder if there isn’t a bit of sour grapes with Hearn towards Khan, because Hearn had been hoping to get Khan to fight Brook recently in a summer stadium fight. Instead of Khan giving Hearn and Brook the fight, he chose to face the more popular Canelo. When you hear Hearn downgrading Khan’s chances against Canelo, it’s hard to know if he really believes this or if this is just a case of Hearn lashing out at Khan for rejecting Brook for a fight.
Khan can potentially do exactly what Mayweather did as well as he doesn’t stand in the same place for too long, and as long as he mostly uses his jab. Mayweather threw almost entirely jabs against Canelo. It was only when Mayweather was getting cheered loudly that he would get confident enough to throw left hooks and right hands.
Khan will need to resist throwing his left hooks and right hands that he likes to throw if he wants to win. Khan is a combination puncher, and a completely different type of fighter than Maywether, who has always been a single shot fighter. Khan will need to adapt his fighting style completely to facing the much bigger Canelo. If he tries to fight him like he’s done his past opponents, then this fight is going to end early with Canelo knocking him out.
“Listen, Kell Brook at 154 pounds is a complete beast. Yes, he’d take the Canelo fight. Style wise, that’s a good fight because Kell’s not going to be looking to get in and get out. He’s a short, sharp puncher. He doesn’t mind staying in the pocket. Against Kell Brook, people think that if they get inside, he’s poor on the inside. But you’ve got to get on the inside. Shawn Porter tried to get on the inside. He couldn’t get anywhere near him. He kept him busy. You’re going to get hit with a jab. You’re going to get hit with a chocolate brownie right hand, and it hurts. Porter is the best example of someone who tried to close the distance but couldn’t,” said Hearn.
If Brook can keep winning his fights, he probably will get a fight against Canelo Alvarez in the future. Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy are pooling from the welterweight division for Canelo’s opponents, and I could see them continuing to do that in the future.
It sounds like Brook could wind up fighting in the junior middleweight division before long anyway. If Brook doesn’t get exposed by whoever Hearn finds for him in 2016, and if he doesn’t get beaten by Errol Spence in 2017, then we could see Brook face Canelo at some point in the near future. Never the less, Brook didn’t look solid against Porter. He barely beat him, and he had to use a lot of holding on the inside to stop him from punching. Hearn’s recollection of the Brook-Porter fight is faulty. Porter got to the inside all night long, but he was held each time he got in close.
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