Hunter expects Canelo to come in lighter for Khan fight

By Boxing News - 05/03/2016 - Comments

canelo9343By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) will presumably be coming into this Saturday’s fight against Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) at a lighter weight than he’s done in the past.

Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter expects the 25-year-old Canelo to be lighter than he usually is but he still expects him to be the same type of fighter that he usually is. Hunter doesn’t see Canelo changing how he fights even if he’s lighter than he normally is.

A lighter Canelo could play into Khan’s hands because he won’t need to deal with the stronger shots from the Mexican fighter. Canelo has been weighing as much as 175 for his fights after rehydrating from 155.

We don’t know how much Canelo weighed in his fight against Miguel Cotto because he wasn’t weighed. All we know is that Canelo looked heavier than he had in any of his past fights. There was no explanation given why Canelo didn’t weigh-in before he stepped into the ring against Cotto.

“I haven’t seen the workout, but he’s got quick hand-speed and believe he’ll come in lighter but it’s hard to tell,” said Hunter to fighthype.com. “We can prepare for a lot of things, but eventually you tend to resort to what you tend to do best,” said Hunter.

A lighter Canelo won’t necessarily be a better fighter than he usually is. When you strip muscle weight off it usually leaves you weaker and not quicker at least in terms of hand speed. The only thing that being lighter will help Canelo is to move around the ring to try and force Khan into a situation where he can land his shots.

Canelo will no doubt be trying this best Gennady Golovkin imitation on Saturday when he gets inside the ring with Khan at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Golovkin is exceptionally good at cutting off the ring to land his shots against his normally fleeing opponents.

Canelo hasn’t ever shown the ability to cut off the ring in any of his fights. It’s understood that Canelo has short legs and slow feet. Having a big upper body helps Canelo generate power on his shots, but not having the wheels to move hurts him.

If Canelo comes into the fight at 165 on Saturday, then it’s possible that he could be a better fighter. It depends. If Canelo’s feet are still slow then he’s going to be in trouble because Khan will be using movement to make him look bad like he does with everyone he faces.

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When Khan is at his best, he can make good fighters look bad. Khan had Devon Alexander and Luis Collazo looking poor in his fights against them. Those fighters are quicker on their feet than Canelo is, and Khan had them tied in knots. Canelo will need to be light if he wants to be able to deal with Khan’s foot speed because he’s going to have some serious problems if he comes into the fight in the 180s after rehydrating from 155.