(Photo Credit: Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions) By Allan Fox: WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) was looking really drained today in his grand arrival at the MGM Grand in Las Veas, Nevada for his title defense against Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) on Saturday night. Canelo has to cut down to 155lbs for the catch-weight, and it seems like he needs to be fighting at the full weight for the division at 160.
Khan says he’s going to give Canelo a boxing lesson on Saturday night. Khan has been working on his speed and movement so that he can keep out range of Canelo’s short power shots. Khan feels that he’s going to make Canelo look bad, take his WBC title in front of his fans, and then go home with the belt to Great Britain. Khan has never been surer of a victory before during his career because he’s done his homework well in studying the 25-year-old Canelo’s fights and coming up with a great game plan to defeat his fighting style.
Canelo has to win this fight because his promoters have picked opponent two divisions below him in weight with them choosing Khan. If Canelo gets beaten in this fight, it’s going to put him in the same position as David Lemieux. In other words, Canelo will be seen as a limited slugger who gets by on size but who can’t beat the better fighters.
“I have trained and worked on my speed and my power,” said Khan. “The fans will be very happy on Saturday night. I will be the new world champion. I think it will be difficult to knock Canelo out, but I know I can give him a boxing lesson,” Khan continued.
Most of the boxing experts believe that Canelo will be too big and too strong for Khan to handle in this fight. However, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a lot smaller and weaker than Canelo too in their fight in 2013, and he made him look bad in winning by a landslide 12 round decision. Mayweather’s plan wasn’t that complicated. Mayweather mostly just stood on the outside and jabbed Canelo.
It wasn’t until the 9th round that Mayweather started using movement after Canelo began to pressure him. Canelo landed a nice right hand in the 9th that gave him confidence to go after Mayweather. However, Mayweather was too fast on his feet for Canelo to catch up to him in the last remaining three rounds.
Canelo looked helpless and limited in trying to corner Mayweather. Nothing much has changed with Canelo’s poor foot speed since then. Erislandy Lara did the same thing to Canelo that Mayweather did. The only thing Lara forgot about was throwing enough punches.
“There is a difference between wanting and doing. On Saturday night, we will see who will give who a boxing lesson,” said Khan.
If Canelo gets trapped into a boxing match with Khan, he could wind up losing the fight. It won’t work for Canelo to box a fighter like Khan because he doesn’t have the hand speed or the skills to win that type of fighter. While Canelo is a good boxer for a middleweight, he’s not as good as Khan and some of the other high quality boxers in the welterweight division like Tim Bradley. Canelo might be able to beat them with his size and power, but if he tries to box with Khan and some of the other 147lb fighters, he’s going to be embarrassed.
Canelo’s DNA is that of a slugger. That’s how he was brought up, and that’s the only thing he can do well. Unfortunately, for Canelo, he’s outgrown the welterweight and junior middleweight divisions, and he’s now a middleweight. Canelo is fighting in a division with a slugger that is light years better than him in Gennady Golovkin, and Canelo and his team don’t seem to fancy that challenge. Canelo might not even be as good as Daniel Jacobs, Tureano Johnson and Andy Lee. It’s likely Golden Boy Promotions will steer Canelo around those fighters too.
“I know I’m here as the underdog, but I’m ready to win and take this WBC belt back to my home in England,” said Khan. “I wouldn’t have taken this fight if I didn’t think I could take it. I have trained for everything and worked on my speed and my power,” said Khan.
