By Dan Ambrose: Last Saturday night, WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Amir Khan met with HBO’s Max Kellerman in his Face Off special to hype their May 7 fight on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo brought his manager Eddy Reynoso, and Khan had his trainer Virgil Hunter with him.
What was interesting about the special was how Canelo denied rehydrating to 180lbs for any of his fights in the past. Canelo also said that he’s come in at 170 at times in the past for some of his fights, but that’s it.
There are a lot of boxing fans who feel that Canelo was 180 for his last fight against Miguel Cotto, who was said to be at 164 the night of their fight last November. Canelo looked much heavier than Cotto in that fight. Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach estimated that Canelo had rehydrated 30 pounds from the 155-pound catch-weight, which would put Canelo over 180 on the night of the fight.
Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter said during the Kellerman special last Saturday night that he’d like to be a fly on the wall to see how Canelo rehydrates 25 pounds in the 24 hours before the fight. Canelo’s face went from an emotionless flat affect to that of a frown as he slowly shook his head, as if to say he won’t rehydrate 25 pounds to 180 on the night of the fight.
“No, no, never in my life have I entered the ring at 180 pounds,” Canelo said to Kellerman. “Never in my life. In fact, I don’t know, I always at 167. Sometimes I’ve come up to fight at 170. But never, never that high [180]. We always try to do things right after the weigh-in. I really don’t know how much I am going up, but where I feel good, and where I feel strong, fast. Because sometimes you do everything right, and after the weigh-in you do something wrong and you lose the fight. We are going to do our best, and hydrate like we always have. Whatever my body gains, it’s fine,” said Canelo.
Whatever the case, if Canelo comes into the May 7 fight weighing in the 180s, or even at 175, he could be in a lot of trouble because Khan will literally box circles around him for 12 rounds and take advantage of his slow feet and huge weight that he needs to carry around the ring. 175 to 180 is the type of weight that Canelo would be better off using for the slow plodders that he’s been fighting since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. Canelo fought James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo after the Mayweather fight, and both of them were ring rusty to the extreme and had reportedly taken off a lot of weight in a short period of time to get ready for the fight.
“The media makes more of an issue of it than the fighter because he’s a skillful fighter,” said Khan’s trainer Hunter. “I’ve never seen him use his weight to fight in that particular manner. I would like to be a fly on the wall to see that incredible transformation how you’re able to put on 25 pounds in 24 hours. That’s a lot of eating and drinking. I believe he’ll come in lighter. I think he will,” said Hunter.
It seems like Hunter suspects that Canelo puts on a lot of weight after he makes weight for his fights despite Canelo’s denials of rehydrating more than 170. Hunter seems to have a pretty good idea of how big fighters are after they rehydrate.
“I feel more comfortable at 160, when I walk into the ring,” said Khan.
I think weight can be a big issue for the Canelo-Khan fight. If Canelo has a big enough weight advantage to where it doesn’t impair his movement around the ring, he’s very likely going to crush Khan to bits in a lightning fashion. It would be the same case if you threw Canelo in the ring with a fighter 10 to 15 pounds heavier than him like IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. With that kind of weight advantage over Canelo, Kovalev would likely chew Canelo up and spit him up within five or six rounds. Weight does matter in fights.
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