By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) will get a nice payday and a lot of attention for his fight against Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) on May 7, but the clash will not get Canelo ready in any way for his tougher and more important fight against Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs).
Khan, 29, can crack a little when he lands cleanly, but he does not have the punching power, boxing skills or the chin that Golovkin has. Khan is the ideal opponent to get Canelo ready for a fight against Golovkin.
Khan would have been a good opponent to get Canelo ready for a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. back in 2013. Khan would be a good opponent to get Canelo ready for the likes of Tim Bradley if he ever had the idea of fighting one of those guys. If Canelo is serious about fighting Golovkin in 2016, then he should be battling David Lemieux, Jorge Sebastian Heiland or Tureano Johnson.
Those guys are roughly the same size as Golovkin and have the kind of punching power that is close enough to Golovkin to get Canelo at least somewhat ready. Khan is the wrong guy for Canelo to be fighting for him to be getting prepared for what he’s going to be dealing with when he gets inside the ring with Golovkin.
Khan might have better punching power at 155lbs than he did at 147. Khan had problems making weight for his last fight against Chris Algieri last May. With him moving up to 155, it’s going to give him another seven pounds to play with.
I think Khan will have more punching power than ever before, and he could be a real handful for Canelo. When you combine Khan’s added weight with his already blazing hand speed, it could mean the type of power that Canelo has never seen before. Khan already has better punching power than Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Canelo was bothered by Mayweather’s power.
Mayweather hurt Canelo in the seventh round of their fight in 2013, when Canelo made the mistake of retreating to the ropes to try and set a trap. Canelo dealt with Miguel Cotto’s punching power pretty well last November, but Cotto didn’t have the hand speed that Khan possesses. If Cotto had Khan’s hand speed, he would have given Canelo many problems, because he would have been being hit by shots that he wouldn’t see. Those are the more dangerous type of shots to be hit with.
I still think that Khan probably won’t be able to help Canelo get ready for the Golovkin fight. It’s not a good fight for Canelo be taking directly before he faces Golovkin. Of course, we do not know whether Canelo intends on facing Golovkin.
It could be that he already knows that he is going to vacate his WBC middleweight title rather than take the fight against Golovkin and risk being knocked out. If Canelo does not plan to fight Golovkin, then a fight against Khan makes all the sense in the world.
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