By Scott Gilfoid: Mayweather Promotions fighter Ashley Theophane thinks former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) has a chance of getting the better of the bigger and stronger WBC 160lb champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) if he uses his superior hand speed and footwork in their fight on May 7.
Theophane says that Floyd Mayweather Jr. was able to beat Canelo with his hand speed and boxing skills in their fight in 2013, so he thinks it is definitely possible for Khan to beat him too. With that said, Theophane, 35, is siding with Canelo to win the fight based on his size advantage.
Theophane expects Canelo to be big after he rehydrates in the 24 hours before the fight, and he sees the Mexican star looking huge on the night of the fight.
“I like Khan. He goes after the big names,” Theophane said to Fighthype. “What boxer doesn’t want to fight the best and test himself? He’s got the speed on his side. It’s just that weight. I have to side with Canelo, but think that Khan’s speed will make it a fight for a while. He [Khan] has a chance. You have to watch the way Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] beat him [Canelo]. Floyd beat him with speed and skills. So if Amir can do that, then he has a chance to win. He has speed. He has skills. He’s got great footwork. He’s got a chance. It’s just on the night, Canelo is going to be very big,” Theophane said.
Well, Theophane is right in pointing out that Mayweather used his speed to get the better of the hulking Canelo. However, Mayweather was a genius in the ring. He was not just a physically gifted fighter. He was above all very smart. Khan has many physical gifts like Mayweather, but he just does not have the ring IQ to take advantage of his skills. About the only thing, I can suggest for Khan to do is to study the heck out of the Mayweather vs. Canelo fight and try to mimic everything that Mayweather did in the ring.
That is the only thing Khan can do, because if he fights in his normal mindless way, he’ll be blown out of the water in two or three rounds by Canelo. I mean, I think the fight might even end in the 1st round. If Khan tries to throw his speedy combinations like he always does, he’ll get nailed by Canelo. I think that is what’s going to happen. Khan will try to showboat out of habit, and Canelo will nail him in with a big shot in between one of his combinations. Khan will then hit the deck and be counted out quickly.
Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter has his work cut out for him in trying to change Khan’s fighting style to rid him of all the bad habits he has. I don’t know if it’s possible in one training camp to have Khan unlearn all the flaws in his game. It’ll only take one mistake by Khan for him to get blasted to eternity by Canelo.
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