Friday, May 6, 2016

Canelo-Khan: Speed kills, but brute force the difference





The fight the boxing world wants to see is Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez against Gennady Golovkin.

It's the only realistic 'super fight' boxing has left, despite the heavyweight scene currently seeing a resurgence.

The only problem is, once again, politics and promoters get in the way.

Last week Golovkin fought Dominic Wade, and annihilated him, as everyone expected.

Canelo will fight Amir Khan this Sunday.

When Golovkin vanquished David Lemieux in October last year, most thought GGG would next fight the winner of Cotto-Canelo.

But here we are, and no progress has been made.

Canelo is the heir apparent, destined to take over the throne of Boxing's King.

It's hard to believe he is still only 25-years-old.

Already he's taken on Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and co.

He should be fighting Golovkin.

In the fight game matchups are made using the risk/reward formula, and Khan looks like a good fight for Canelo with this in mind.

Khan is a financial draw. He's built his name as an exciting fighter and has a diverse fan base from both Britain and parts of Asia, given his heritage.

But, his best work has been done as a Lightweight and Light Welterweight. It was only in December 2014 that he stepped up to the Welterweight limit. Now he steps up almost three divisions to take on Canelo.

On the face of it, Khan seems like a safe bet for Canelo. He's a name fighter, with a suspect chin, not known for his knockout power and someone fighting way out of his weight class.

But Khan's best asset is speed and it's the very asset that has shown to be Canelo's Achilles heel.

We saw Canelo exposed somewhat in the Floyd Mayweather fight, with the Mexican unable to deal with Mayweather’s hand speed and movement. He struggled to close the distance and looked sluggish, without throwing anything of note.

Even most recently against Miguel Cotto, the Puerto Rican won the early rounds using his jab and speed to fight on the outside. It wasn't until Cotto tired did the fight come back to the Mexican.

There’s a multimillion dollar carrot dangling for Canelo after this fight, with pressure to make a Golovkin fight mounting, but he risks that substantial pay day against Amir Khan.

The fact Khan is fighting at Middleweight for the 160 pound title* is ludicrous.

The fight itself will be fought at an agreed weight of 155 pounds, given Canelo's ( and Miguel Cotto's) appetite for not fighting at Middleweight, despite being a Middleweight World Champion.

Canelo has always been marked as an elite fighter, with the potential to go to the next level. We've all been waiting for him to assume the mantle and it seems like he's finally comfortable wearing it.

He gave us some doubts in his performance against Mayweather, but to be fair - he was only 23 at the time.


Canelo showed he had matured is his fight with Cotto and had he pressed a bit more, he could have got Cotto out of there earlier than a decision victory.

Khan’s only hope of winning would have to be a decision victory and I expect him to fight on the outside, score and then stay out of range. If he gets caught on the inside, and Canelo lands, it could be a very short night.

The Khan fight will do reasonable business. But it's not the fight boxing fans want to see.

It's time boxing learnt that if you don't give fans what they want, they'll go somewhere where they can get it. Namely, the UFC.

I expect Canelo to win on Sunday, but should he come unstuck, plans to tackle Golovkin will take a massive nose dive.

Not good news for Canelo or the sport of Boxing.

ADAM SANTAROSSA




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