(Photo credit: Golden Boy Promotions) By Jeff Aranow: After studying WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s past fights with the help of trainer Virgil Hunter, Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) knows exactly what he needs to do to beat the 25-year-old Canelo in their fight on May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Khan sees a slow, flat-footed fighter in Canelo that he can exploit with hand and foot speed and make him look really bad. Khan and Hunter both watched how a smaller Floyd Mayweather Jr. was able to take the heavier Canelo to school in 2013 and tie him in knots mentally to the point where Canelo didn’t know what to do inside the ring.
Canelo’s trainer Chepo Reynoso was no help to him at all in the corner. The only thing they could do is encourage Canelo to apply more pressure, and when that failed to work against Mayweather, they were lost and paralyzed.
“We are going to have to use the right game plan towards what Canelo will bring in the ring that day,” said Khan. “We will have to be very focused in this fight. What beats Canelo in my eyes is speed, and movement, skill and boxing IQ so that’s what we are going to be using.”
Canelo’s earning power will very likely be crippled horribly by a loss to Khan. We saw how Manny Pacquiao’s once impressive career took a major hit after a loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012. Pacquiao’s pay-per-view buys dropped in half after that loss, and it wasn’t until his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015 that his PPV buys were briefly back over the 1 million buy mark.
Speed and movement definitely beats Canelo. Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout both almost had Canelo beat as well. What they failed to realize is that you need to hit him cleanly at least 10 to 20 times per round like Mayweather was doing if you want to beat him. You have to remember that Canelo is a highly popular fighter with a tremendous fan base. He brings in a lot of fans to Las Vegas on the night of his fights, and he’s definitely very good for the state of Nevada.
If you want to beat a guy that brings in huge money to Vegas and to the sport as a whole, you’ve got to really beat him bad to the point where there’s absolutely no question who the winner is. This means that Khan can’t forget his offense on May 7 if he wants a chance to beat the fan favorite in this fight.
“This is a massive fight, fighting Canelo. He is a big name around the world. Beating Canelo will definitely take me back to the top where I want to be,” said Khan. “I’ve always dreamed of being one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, and I think by beating Canelo that will definitely get me there. That is why I took this fight.”
Khan could resurrect his sagging career with a win over Canelo. It would be a huge boost to Khan’s career to bring back to where he was before he suffered back to back losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia.