Canelo vs. Khan tickets reasonably priced

By Boxing News - 03/01/2016 - Comments

canelo945By Dan Ambrose: The ticket prices for the May 7 fight between WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Amir Khan were released today by HBO, and they seem to be reasonably priced compared to sky high prices we saw for last May’s “fight of the century” between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The tickets for that fight were increased to the maximum limit, and many boxing fans felt that the organizers had gauged the public to the hilt. In contrast, the tickets for Canelo-Khan fight seem to be reasonable and it looks like a good deal for the fans. The Canelo vs. Khan will be taking place at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s unclear how much the Canelo-Khan fight will go for on HBO pay-per-view. You would have to think no less than $60, but possibly as high as $70. I checked with my local cable company, but they didn’t have the prices for the fight listed yet.

Here are the ticket prices for the Canelo-Khan fight for those who wish to see it live:
$1500, 1200, 1k, 800, 600, 400, 250, 150.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 888-929-7849 or by going to the following websites: http://t-mobilearena.com or http://axs.com.

Tickets go on sale this Wednesday, March 2 starting at 1:00 p.m.

Canelo, 25, has made no indication that he’ll be vacating his WBC middleweight title if he gets past Khan on May 7. Canelo and Khan will be fighting at a catch-weight of 155lbs. However, if Canelo chooses to try and force a similar catch-weight on his mandatory challenger Gennady Golovkin for later this year in September, he could be met with some resistance.

Golovkin has no intention of spotting the heavier Canelo a catch-weight handicap that he doesn’t really need. Like a lot of younger fighters, Canelo is quite good at boiling down in weight to make his special catch-weight. The soon to be 34-year-old Golovkin doesn’t want to try to drain his body in a similar fashion to make a catch-weight that isn’t needed for this fight.

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So if Canelo decides to push the 155lb catch-weight on Golovkin to gain an advantage over him, it could be a problem that might ultimately be decided by the World Boxing Council. If they let Canelo force catch-weights on all of his challengers to his WBC middleweight title, then this would obviously open the door to other sanctioning bodies likely allowing their champions to force their challengers to agree to catch-weights for all of their title defenses and not just for the voluntary defenses.

“As the middleweight champion of the world, I will take on the best fighters in the sport and on Cinco De Mayo weekend, I look forward to making the first defense of my titles,” said Canelo. “Amir was a decorated amateur, a two-time world champion and is in the prime of his career. Fans are in for a great fight on May 7.”

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Canelo points out that it’s the first defense of his WBC title. However, it remains to be seen whether there will ever be a second defense. Canelo has to get past the 29-year-old Khan, and he might need to be flexible about his next defense against Golovkin if he chooses not to give him an unnecessary weight handicap to weaken himself on purpose for Canelo.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya has been sending mixed messages about whether Canelo will face Golovkin this year. Originally, De La Hoya was saying that the fight will happen this year, but now he’s saying the fight will “eventually happen,” which sounds like it will happen in the future rather than this year.

It could depend on how well Canelo looks against Khan, and how not so well Golovkin looks in his next title defense against the unbeaten Dominic Wade next month on April 23 in their fight at the Forum in Inglewood, California. If Golovkin struggles to win that fight, then I think there’s a good chance he’ll get the fight against Canelo in September. But if Golovkin blasts Wade apart like he did against an overmatched Golden Boy fighter David Lemieux last October, then I see Canelo and De La Hoya moving past Golovkin to face other opponents.

“We are committed to putting on the biggest and best fights in boxing,” said De La Hoya. “Canelo is the biggest star in the sport and as he demonstrated against James Kirkland and Miguel Cotto last year, he is only getting better. Those who predicted that he would take an easy fight for his first defense have been proven wrong once again.”

You can argue that Khan is an easy opponent, because he was pooled from the welterweight division instead of the middleweight division. If heavyweight champion Tyson Fury were to find his challengers to his title from the light heavyweight division, he would take tons of heat for doing so. I don’t know if you can call this a difficult fight for Canelo. On paper, it would seem to be an easy one given his weight advantage.



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