By Tim Fletcher: Amir Khan says it would be a big mistake if WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is looking past him towards a bigger fight against IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in September. Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) and Canelo (46-1-1, 32 KOs) will be meeting up in three months from now on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Canelo is supposed to be using the Khan fight as an interim title defense before facing his mandatory challenger Golovkin in September. That’s what the WBC has given Canelo permission to do. Whether Canelo will actually take the fight against Golovkin is another situation altogether.
Khan might not need to worry about Canelo looking past him towards the Golovkin fight, because the chances are that Canelo doesn’t have intention of taking on the tough Kazakhstan fighter anyway.
“If I was Canelo, that would be the biggest mistake I’m making,” Khan said to TMZ.com. “If he’s looking far ahead, if he’s looking past the fight against me and looking at the Triple G fight, I think he’s making a mistake because I really believe I can beat him in this fight and I can win this fight. If he [Canelo] loses to me, then that fight won’t be there,” said Khan.
Khan shouldn’t take it personal if the 25-year-old Canelo chooses look past him towards a bigger fight against Golovkin. The entire boxing world sees Khan as the sacrificial lamb for Canelo to slaughter due to the size difference between the two. If Canelo were in the same weight class as Khan, then the fight would be seen as a nearly 50-50 fight. But it’s impossible for Canelo and other people to see this fight on even terms, because Khan will be giving away so much weight.
While Floyd Mayweather Jr. showed that weight doesn’t matter in his fight against Canelo in 2013, Khan isn’t seen by fans as being on the same level as him. However, Khan is one of those guys that you really can’t know for sure what he’s capable of doing, because he’s a diamond in the rough. He’s been a work in progress since moving over to trainer Virgil Hunter, and he hasn’t fought anyone good enough in the last three years to find out how much he’s improved.
The Canelo fight is going to be Khan’s chance to show how much better he is than he was earlier in his career. If Hunter has improved Khan a great deal, then it’s going to nightmare for Canelo on May 7. He won’t be able to handle Khan’s hand speed, movement and sharp punches. The fight could turn out to be as one-sided as Khan’s fights against Devon Alexander and Luis Collazo.
If Canelo is looking past the Khan fight, then it’s a win-win for Khan, because he’ll have a better chance of beating him. Canelo doesn’t have the kind of talent needed for him to assume that he can beat any quality fighter. We’ve seen Canelo struggle against guys like Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara in the past. We’ve also seen Canelo lose to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Khan has elements of all three of those fighters in his game. If Khan’s chin can hold up for 12 rounds against Canelo, then he has a good chance of beating him. Where Trout went wrong against Canelo was his failure to throw power shots. Trout spent too much time throwing jabs, and this allowed Canelo to win by landing a small amount of power shots in each round. Lara blew it by not throwing enough punches in the second half of the fight against Canelo. Lara fought well during the first six rounds, but he got too defensive in the last half of the fight and this enabled Canelo to step the victory.
Khan has to fight a lot better against Canelo than he showed in his last fight against Chris Algieri. Khan was backed up all night long by Algieri last May, and he didn’t fight well going backwards. Algieri came close to winning the fight, but Khan was able to get the decision based on his cleaner shots in the last four rounds.
Never the less, the fight was too close and it should have been an easier one for Khan. Algieri was totally dominated by Manny Pacquiao in 2014. If Khan was in the same league as Pacquiao, then he should have been able to dominate Algieri as well instead of struggle with him.
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