By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan sees himself as being on the verge of replacing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao as the top fighter in the sport of boxing. Khan says that someone has to replace Mayweather and Pacquiao as the top, and he believes it’ll be him that takes over once he beats WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight on May 7 on HBO PPV.
Khan isn’t worried about all about fighting at the 155lb catch-weight for the fight, because he plans on bulking up by training hard rather than eating his way to 155. Khan says he’s going to bulk up and then hand Canelo another loss on his resume.
I hate to break this to Khan, but someone already has taken over for Mayweather and Pacquiao as the sport’s biggest star. That person is the 25-year-old Canelo. I don’t think Khan is going to be able to nudge Canelo aside to take over the stop spot.
Even if Khan beats Canelo, I still see him as the number box office and PPV attraction in the United States. Canelo is backed by a huge and growing fan base in the U.S. Those fans will continue to follow Canelo’s fights no matter what. Canelo is more of a celebrity with his fans than an athlete. He doesn’t need to win on order to keep his fans and continue to pick up new fans. Canelo isn’t like Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., who won his fans by fighting frequently and winning. Canelo is more of a movie star type of celebrity, and he can afford to absorb losses without losing fans.
“Someone has to take that spot and once I beat Canelo Alvarez I will be the top guy in the world boxing,” Khan said to Ringtv.com. “This is my time and this my year. I’m in my prime in my career, I’m at my peak, at my best, mentally and physically. This is my time to shock the world.”
Khan will need to prove that he can beat Canelo a second time if he defeats him. There’s a rematch clause in the contract, so Khan won’t be able to just move on and do what he pleases if he wins. He’ll need to prove that he can beat Canelo again. That might prove to be impossible because Canelo will make adjustments in the rematch and will be highly motivated.
If Khan beats Canelo on May 7, he’ll pick up a lot of new fans in America and will be on his way to becoming a Gennady Golovkin type of attraction. However, Khan will still have a long, long ways to go before he can become the No.1 star in the sport. That would take years, and it would require that Khan fight on a more frequent basis than he’s been doing in the last couple of years.
Khan would also need to face better opposition than he’s been fighting in the last four years. Khan can’t become the No.1 star if he’s going to be wasting his career fighting guys like Luis Collazo, Chris Algieri, Julio Diaz, Carlos Molina and Devon Alexander. Khan will need to start fighting guys like Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman and Tim Bradley.
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