By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) says his hand speed will be too much for the bigger and slower WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight this Saturday night on HBO PPV. Khan has bulked up for this fight from the welterweight division, and he feels the strongest he’s ever been in a fight.
The fight will be taking place at a catch-weight of 155lbs, and that gives Khan an extra eight pounds from what he usually weighs in at 147. Khan believes the added weight will make him stronger. However, Khan will still be dealing with a heavier fighter in Canelo, who generally rehydrates into the 170s for his fights.
Canelo is a true middleweight, and Khan is going to need to take some big shots occasionally in this fight to have a chance of winning.
“It’s the strongest I’ve been for any fight, having that little bit of extra weight can only give me that extra advantage in getting power but the speed is still there,” said Khan to ESPN.co.uk. “All round I feel so much stronger as a fighter. I’ve sparred a lot of rounds with heavier guys and I’ve done a lot of strength work in my legs by training on sand to help with the later rounds.”
If Khan hasn’t lost his hand speed from gaining weight, then he could be a real problem for Canelo. Khan is likely going to be punching with more power than he’s done in the past. If you add power to Khan’s already blistering hand speed, then that will make it difficult for Canelo.
In the past, Khan has had the hand speed but he lacked the power on his shots to make him truly dangerous. Adding power to his punches will make him a formidable opponent for Canelo, who could be vulnerable if hit enough times by Khan.
Khan will need to avoid throwing combinations because that’s where he’s had problems in the past. Khan’s opponents have been able to hit him in between his combinations, and either knocked him out, or put him off his game. Khan says he’s not getting hit as much in his last three fights against Chris Algieri, Devon Alexander and Luis Collazo.
It’s true that Khan did a good job of not getting hit by Alexander and Collazo that much, but Algieri definitely was able to land a lot of punches against Khan in their fight last year. Algieri made it a point to pressure Khan by backing him up constantly and landing looping shots. At 5’11”, Algieri had the height and reach to land his shots against the shorter 5’10” Khan. Canelo is 5’9 ½”, and doesn’t have the arm length or the height that Algieri possesses.
It’s possible that Khan could avoid Canelo’s punches as long as he keeps moving and doesn’t get caught with a left hook while throwing one of his own power shots. Canelo has power in both hands, but it’s his left hook that is his bread and butter punch.
Canelo doesn’t hurt his opponents with his right hand all that often. He needs to land his left hook for him to hurt anybody, and that means his opponents need to be either standing stationary or throwing a power shot of their own for Canelo to land that punch. Canelo isn’t able to land his left hook when his opponents are jabbing him.
“The speed is still there but this fight will be more mental — I have to win it with my brains. I can’t let my courage take over because it could get me in trouble, it has in the past, but I’m much smarter and wiser now,” said Khan.
It sounds like Khan is going to be looking to slow the fight down to make it a chess match on Saturday rather than a brawl. That’s not good for Canelo. He doesn’t do well in chess matches. If you look at Canelo’s three toughest fights of his career against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout, he did not handle the one punch at a time style of those guys.
Canelo backed up against the ropes and fought as a pure counter puncher in his fight against Trout, and he was clearly outworked in that contest. The judges gave it to Canelo based on him landing a tiny amount of power shots in each round, but it was far from a dominating performance from the Mexican fighter.
While the three judges gave Canelo the victory by a lopsided score, the difference in the fight for me was the knockdown Canelo scored in the 7th. Without that knockdown, I had the fight a draw. Canelo will have problems if Khan uses his superior hand speed to throw one punch at a time on Saturday instead of combinations.
If Canelo doesn’t have opportunities to land his counter shots, then he’s going to need to press the attack the way Gennady Golovkin does to make his own opportunities. Canelo isn’t that type of a fighter though. He does not like to get hit, and he’s not naturally the aggressor type.
Canelo needs his opponents to come at him for him to do well. He’s kind of like Juan Manuel Marquez in that respect. Marquez was never any good at initiating the action. He was at his best when his opponents came at him. When Marquez had to attack Tim Bradley in their fight in 2013, Marquez couldn’t do it and ended up losing.
“I will be too smart and too fast for him. The more videos I see of Canelo the more confident I am I will win this fight and become middleweight world champion, which will be huge, it will be a massive shock to the world,” said Khan.
Khan might end up being too fast for Canelo. That’s the bad thing for bigger fighters like him. When you select a smaller fighter thinking you’re going to crush them with your size, it sometimes works against you when the smaller is too fast for you to deal with. That’s why guys like Manny Pacquiao was able to beat bigger fighters like Oscar De La Hoya when he moved up to the welterweight division eight years ago in 2008.
Pacquiao’s hand speed was too fast for the guys in the 147lb division, and he was able to beat many top fighters despite being smaller. Khan might have the same effect in moving up to middleweight. Canelo hasn’t seen hand speed like Khan’s other than in his fight against Mayweather in 2013, and Canelo did poorly in that fight. Canelo was never able to handle Mayweather’s hand speed and it turned out to be an embarrassment for the popular Mexican fighter.