De La Hoya: Golovkin is not a star like Canelo

delahoya433By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya says the fight between his fighter WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin will eventually take place “sooner rather than later,” but he sees the negotiations between the two fighters troublesome.

The reason for that is because he feels that Canelo is a true superstar right now and Golovkin is someone who merely thinks he’s a superstar. De La Hoya thinks Golovkin’s mistaken belief about himself being a superstar will make the negotiations difficult between them. De La Hoya does believe that Golovkin might eventually become a superstar one of these days, but for right now, he’s not there yet.

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Khan says he has multiple game plans for Canelo fight

khan234566By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) says he’s coming into this fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) with multiple game plans for their fight on May 7th, because he knows that one plan might not work for him against the younger, stronger and likely much heavier Mexican fighter.

Khan doesn’t have a lot of choices to fall back on, however, if he’s unable to box against Canelo. He’s not going to be able to stand in the pocket against the 25-year-old Canelo, because he doesn’t have the chin or the punching power to fight in that manner. If you take a look at Canelo’s recent fight against Chris Algieri last year, Khan’s power shots were too weak to fend him off.

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When special plans go to heaven

1-CaneloKhanESPN_Hoganphotos6By Yannis Mihanos: For such a plan, you need a beautiful mind: One that sees through walls, one that can foresee bad situations before from ever happening. Whoever has it, is more likely to win but it is not absolute. There are things first that must be taken care off.

In the wake of the upcoming fight of Amir Khan vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 7 on HBO PPV, I took the time and recollected how many times I have heard the following phrase: “I know how to beat him, I have a special plan.” I bet you have heard this too, millions or even thousands of times.

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Hunter doubts Khan will ever see 147 again

Image: Hunter doubts Khan will ever see 147 againBy Dan Ambrose: Trainer Virgil Hunter was really surprised at how much his fighter Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) has filled recently in him bulking up to 167. Hunter hadn’t see Khan for a while, and when he did, he saw how much heavier he’d become.

The 29-year-old had really filled out since the last time Hunter had been with him. Hunter now questions whether Khan will ever see 147 again after his May 7 fight against WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. That’s potentially a negative for Khan because he has the opportunity to fight IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in a big money clash in the UK later this year or next year.

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Canelo: I’ve fought the best in the world and I still get criticized

Image: Canelo: I've fought the best in the world and I still get criticizedBy Jeff Aranow: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez says he gets criticized despite him having fought the best fighters in the world. He says he no longer pays attention to his critics. He says he’s 25 and still getting dumped by people. Canelo’s criticism is largely the result of his habit of fighting smaller guys than himself.

It started originally when Canelo was boiling down to 147 to fight smaller guys than him in the welterweight division. It then continued when Canelo moved up to the junior middleweight division and fought for the vacant WBC 154lb title against a welterweight in Matthew Hatton at a catch-weight in 2011 rather than fighting one of the top 15 contenders that were ranked at the time by the World Boxing Council.

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Virgil Hunter questions Canelo’s power; says he only KO’d one guy above 147

hunterBy Dan Ambrose: Virgil Hunter, the trainer for Amir Khan, isn’t sold on WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s so-called punching power. Canelo is facing Hunter’s fighter Amir Khan on May 7 on HBO PPV, and many people believe Canelo is going to knock Khan out when the two of them start exchanging blows at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Canelo has built up a reputation as a puncher by a lot of boxing fans and from people in the media. However, Hunter points out that Canelo has only knocked out one fighter above the 147lb division, and that was a weight-drained and ring rusty James Kirkland in May of 2015. Kirkland hadn’t fought in a year and a half before facing Canelo, and he had to take off 40 pounds in just eight weeks’ time.

Hunter feels that Kirkland had no chance of winning the fight in taking that much weight in such a short period of time. Kirkland also wasn’t helped in that he hadn’t fought in almost two years since 2013 when he was selected by Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy to face him.

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Canelo says he has experience to handle Khan’s speed

1-CaneloKhanLAPC_Hoganphotos14By Dan Ambrose: One of the questions that fans have about WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) is how will he deal with the superior hand speed and foot speed of the smaller, quicker Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) in their fight on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view.

Canelo struggled badly against faster fighters in the past in fights against Erislandy Lara, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout. Canelo appeared to lose all three of those fights. However, Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions have backed him off from facing fighters with fast hands in the past year, and he’s done well against slow fighters like Miguel Cotto and James Kirkland.

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Khan: It will be a game of chess against Canelo

canelo9343(Photo Credit: Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: Despite many boxing fans predicting that WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will use his size advantage to try and flatten challenger Amir Khan on May 7, Khan said he sees the fight winding up as a chess match between him and the 25-year-old Canelo.

Khan says he wants to beat Canelo, prove everyone wrong, and then take his WBC title back home with him to the UK. Khan says his trainer Virgil Hunter will come up with the perfect game plan to defeat Canelo on HBO pay-per-view.

If Khan is able to turn the fight into chess match, it’s going to be awfully tough for Canelo to win, because he’s not as good of a boxer as Khan. Canelo can box, but he’s not at the same level as someone fleet of foot and fast of hand like Khan.

Canelo makes mistakes by trying to box against boxers, and that’s one of the reasons why he struggled in his fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Austin Trout. Canelo had the right idea of slugging in his fights against Miguel Cotto and Erislandy Lara. The problem was he was still so slow and flat-footed that they were able to outbox him over long stretches of those two fights.

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Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan Los Angeles press conference quotes

LOS ANGELES (March 2, 2016) – WBC, Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) and former two-time world champion and resurgent contender Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) made their final stop off their three-city international press tour in Los Angeles at the Universal CityWalk to discuss their upcoming May 7 showdown at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

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Matthysse-Herrera being finalized for Canelo-Khan card

matthysse567676By Jim Dower: Golden Boy Promotions are working tirelessly to finalize the negotiations for the welterweight clash between Lucas Matthysse and Mauricio Herrera for the undercard of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Amir Khan card on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Golden Boy expects the Matthysse-Herrera fight negotiations to be wrapped up by next week possibly. It’s a great fight matching two of the best fighters that recently moved up from the light welterweight division to take this fight.

Matthysse vs. Herrera will definitely help create some interest in the Canelo-Khan undercard, and it should be a great fight. Both guys have dealt with some disappointing defeats in recent years. Herrera was beaten by Danny Garcia and Jose Benavidez in fights that many fans felt he should have won. Matthysse has suffered recent losses to Danny Garcia and Viktor Postol, two of the better fighters in the sport.

“It’s still in the works,” Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez said to ringtv.com. “It’s about a week away from getting done. There are still loose ends — details that are important that could break the fight. They’re both interested but once you go down and start talking about money and weight and this and that, you can lose the fight.”

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