By Edward Chaykovsky
The three city promotional tour came to a close on Wednesday, as WBC and Lineal middleweight world champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) went face to face with former two-time world champion Amir "King" Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) for the the final time before they get together for fight week in May.
Their HBO Pay-Per-View showdown is scheduled for May 7 at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The PPV will begin at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
The fight is taking place at a catch-weight of 155-pounds, with Khan moving up by eight pounds from the welterweight division.
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya has become the second promoter in recent weeks to use presidential candidate Donald Trump as a promotional tool.
Last month, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum named Trump as the inspiration for putting together an undercard filled with Mexican fighters to support the HBO PPV trilogy fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley on April 9th.
According to De La Hoya, he was hit with inspiration to make this fight while watching the presidential debates.
"Let me just say, let's thank Donald Trump for making this fight happen because we are getting a Mexican and Muslim together to have this fight on Cinco de Mayo," De La Hoya stated.
"It is not often that two superstars of a sport face off at the peak of their careers. This is such an event, with two of the biggest international fighters fighting at the biggest arena in the world."
"This takes me back to [Marcos] Maidana who had Amir down, and Amir fought until the end. Canelo will have to be careful and watch out. This fight will be great and will be wonderful to celebrate on Cinco de Mayo." [Editor's Note: Khan was never down against Maidana. He had Maidana down in the first round, although Khan was hurt badly in the tenth.]
