Now that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has been given the green light by the WBC to take a voluntary defense of his WBC World middleweight title in the first five months of 2016, the quest has begun to find an opponent.
Golden Boy Promotions Founder and CEO, Oscar De La Hoya, believes he has come across a breakthrough idea.
Canelo vs. a welterweight?
Although De La Hoya has three fighters in mind that he will enquire into, the most notable of the candidates happens to be a former junior welterweight champion, 29-year-old Amir Khan.
Khan has only fought at the official welterweight limit of 147 lbs. three times in his professional career, yet De La Hoya surmises that the Bolton fighter is able to fight as high as 154.
Given that Canelo has fought at 155 in his last four fights, including his most recent victory over Miguel Cotto to claim the vacant WBC title, this would likely mean De La Hoya is implying Canelo-Khan at another catch-weight.
“One fight I wouldn’t mind putting together down the road or whenever is Amir Khan vs. Canelo,” De La Hoya said to KO Artist. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that. I think Amir Khan is a fighter who can move up to 154 and a fighter who can fight at 147.
“Amir Khan is a fighter who is very versatile, and he’s a fan-favorite fighter. Think about his fights; he’s always in an exciting fight. He goes down; he gets back up. He’s exciting. So I think Amir Khan vs. Canelo would be interesting.”
Khan was knocked out by Breidis Prescott in 2008 and stopped by Danny Garcia in 2012. In both fights, Khan attempted to keep the fight going. Alas, no cigar.
It is hard to imagine Khan fighting Canelo.
Here we have a natural 140 lb. Khan, who has been knocked out by other natural 140 lb. fighters, fighting a natural 180+ monster at a catch-weight?
It sounds deleterious and absurd.
In any case, Khan might not be available because he is still in the running for a Manny Pacquiao fight in April and potentially a highly-anticipated domestic clash with Sheffield’s Kell Brook in the summer.
“I’m already talking about opponents, and there are several. But most importantly, I want a venue. So come January, we’re going to get on the horn and lock everything in,” De La Hoya added.
What kind of message does this send about the sport as a whole when championship fights are being held at catch-weights?
Now with this idea, it would make it okay not only to continue using catch-weights in title fights, but for the champion to defend their title against a guy who is naturally four-five weight classes lighter than them.
This is an issue that has to be addressed. Fire away with your comments, fans.
– Ryan O’Hara @OHaraSports
Leave a Reply