By Robbie Bannatyne: Many say,’be shocked but never surprised’ by the strange happenings that can occur in elite sports. But you could almost hear the collective gasp of shock and surprise from the boxing world when we 1st heard that WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) will fight Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view. Hours after waking up to a message regarding the bout via Facebook, from a boxing mad friend back home in Scotland, I am still struggling to digest the dramatic turn of events.
Even most boxing insiders seem to be genuinely flabbergasted by the way fight was fashioned straight from the left field. It appears everyone was blindsided by news of the bout.
My initial reaction was one of utter disbelief. But now, as the news slowly begins to settle, I can see sense in the bout. From Amir Khan’s perspective, he finally has the stage he craves to showcase his talents to a worldwide pay-per-view audience against one of boxing’s biggest star’s. Aside from Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao, both of whom have spurned Amir Khan’s advances for years, Canelo is the next biggest money attraction in prizefighting.
Similarly, like with the aforementioned names, there would be no shame if Amir Khan lost to Canelo. Judging by the reaction from boxing fandom, most people are already fishing out their black suits and over-sized shades for the funeral of Amir Khan’s fighting career on May 7. So in the likely event that Khan does indeed succumb to the colossus that is Canelo, the Bolton man already has the built-in excuse that he just couldn’t overcome the much bigger and stronger man.
If he can even survive to the final bell then Khan’s reputation will be enhanced, allowing him to rebound straight back into a big fight with Kell Brook or one of the other champions in the welterweight division.
But let’s not get it twisted. Amir Khan is walking up a mountainous hill with a washing machine strapped to his back. Yet anything less than suffering a swift and gore knockout will constitute a good nights work for the former 140lb world champion.
On the other hand, the dynamite-fisted Canelo is definitely less combustible as the fight wears on. Also, he seemed curiously content to allow Cotto the benefit of hearing the final bell when it looked like he could have knocked his man out if he had gone in for the kill. Maybe he simply showed too much respect to Miguel Cotto. Or maybe the adverse effects of taking off so much weight prohibit Canelo from putting his foot on the gas and moving through the gears in the later rounds of his fights.
For Amir Khan’s sake, he better hope that it is the latter. As it is highly doubtful that the Mexican warrior will be in the mood to show mercy or compassion to Amir Khan given the Bolton mans notoriously brittle chin. Expect Canelo to come out of the traps, try to cut the ring off quickly, and go after Amir Khan early and often to test his opponent’s precarious punch resistance.
Having said that, if Amir Khan can avoid doing the chicken dance and make it into the 2nd half of the fight on his feet, then he may just be able to pull off a spectacular upset win.
Given that it was possible for this mega-fight to be made without anyone from the boxing media finding out beforehand, an Amir Khan points win doesn’t sound like such a pipe dream after all.
I highly doubt it, but maybe, just maybe, the lamb to the slaughter may turn out to be the unlikely hero on May 7.
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