By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan is expecting to beat the 25-year-old Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 7, take his WBC middleweight title, and then move forward with the win to much bigger fights in the near future.
Khan, 29, believes that beating Canelo in this fight will take his career to the next level towards becoming a superstar. Khan has beaten three times in his career against fighters that he shouldn’t have lost to in Breidis Prescott, Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson. But if Khan defeats Canelo on May 7, he believes this win will completely erase those disappointing defeats and turn him into the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the sport of boxing.
Khan has his work cut out for him in beating Canelo because he’s facing a heavier fighter who has been accustomed to getting his way most of the time inside the ring and outside the ring when it comes to negotiating with different fighters.
“I am going to win this fight and it will take me on to the next level and take away all the defeats I have had,” Khan said. “It will put me up there with the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Sometimes you have to beat a superstar to become a superstar. I need to beat Canelo. Beating Danny Garcia or Kell Brook won’t make me the superstar I want to be.”
Beating Canelo might not be a big enough win for Khan to get him to the next level like he thinks he will be. You have to remember that Canelo is already seen as a flawed fighter who was beaten by Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. three years ago in 2013. Further, many boxing fans believe that Canelo deserved defeats in his fights against Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout.
You can argue that Canelo should have three defeats on his resume, and maybe even four defeats because the draw that he was given in 2006 against Jorge Juarez was more like a loss than a win. That’s four defeats that Canelo probably should have.
If Khan beats him too and actually gets credit for beating him, then I still don’t think it would be enough to turn Khan into a pound-for-pound fighter. I do think the win would take Khan’s career to another level and earn him bigger money fights against Kell Brook. But for Khan to become the Number one fighter, he’s going to need to defeat the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Brook, Tim Bradley, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman for him to become the number 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.
Khan’s problem is he’s had too many ups and downs for him to automatically be installed as the top guy in the pound for pound rankings. The guys that do the ratings will no doubt want to see whether Khan can prove that his win over Canelo isn’t a fluke thing, and the only way for Khan to achieve that is for him to beat him a second time, or do something special like beating Golovkin.
I don’t know if Khan will be able to beat Canelo. Right now, it’s not looking good for Khan because he’s folded when facing really good fighters. Khan did beat Marcos Maidana six years ago in 2010, but that was an odd fight that probably should have been stopped in the 10th round after Khan was staggered by a big right hand from Maidana.
Everything that happened after Khan was hurt in the 10th looked bad. I think Khan would have been knocked out with a different referee working that fight on that night. If Khan can prove that he can stand up to the big shots that Canelo will be hitting him with, then he might be able to get a victory. It’s not looking good though right now because he doesn’t have the track record of past success.
Khan has been around for a long time in the pro ranks. He’s not someone that is brand new and can be vaulted to the top with a big win. Khan will need to work harder to become a major star by badly beating Canelo, and then moving on to beat similar type of fighters. I don’t think a win over Brook will do it for Khan. He’ll need to show he can defeat Canelo, Keith Thurman and Golovki for him to become a monstrous star.