By Carlos Boogs
Amir Khan (31-4, 19KOs) has revenge on his mind, but not against the man who knocked him out last Saturday night.
In a surprise career move, Khan moved up by eight pounds to challenge WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) at a catch-weight of 155-pounds. The HBO Pay-Per-View fight headlined the very first boxing event at the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After boxing very well for the first five rounds, Khan was clipped by a huge right hand in the sixth round and knocked out cold.
The British superstar is now planning to drop back down to the welterweight division, where he's still the mandatory challenger to WBC world champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18KOs).
Khan and Garcia collided in 2012 in a junior welterweight unification. In a similar occurrence to Saturday night, Khan was dominating the fight until he got clipped by Garcia in the third round. The entire fight then changed and Khan was stopped in the fourth.
He would like to return to the ring in December, against Garcia. The two fighters share the same adviser in Al Haymon.
Khan is planning to have a talk with Haymon to put the Garcia fight together for the fall. He also plans to speak with head trainer Virgil Hunter, to get some input on facing Garcia in the coming future.
Because of the brutal knockout, Khan is going to face a medical suspension of several months. Once that medical suspension has expired, World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman will fully support Khan's challenge of Garcia.
"I've got the Garcia fight there, I'm still (in) the mandatory position with the WBC, that's a big fight for me. Al Haymon advises me and Garcia. I've not spoke to Al yet [about making that fight] - he wants to talk with me - I also need to speak to Virgil, my trainer," Khan said.
