Byrd: Khan Took Canelo Bout To Continue Chasing Mayweather

By Edward Chaykovsky

Former heavyweight champion Chris Byrd, who now actively trains fighters, believes Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs) accepted a dangerous fight with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (46-1-1, 32KOs) in order to bait Floyd Mayweather Jr. to come out of retirement.

Khan chased Mayweather for over two years, but was never able to get him in the ring. Mayweather continuously passed him over and announced his retirement last September.

The fight with Canelo takes place on May 7th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Khan will move up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds to make the fight happen for Canelo's WBC middleweight championship.

Canelo's only defeat came at the hands of Mayweather in 2013.

In the opinion of Byrd, Khan wants to beat Canelo in order to prove to that he's on Mayweather's level - and hopefully achieve his goal of getting the pound-for-pound king in the ring.

"In my opinion I think he’s doing it because he’s still chasing Floyd. Floyd beat Canelo pretty easy and Amir feels, 'If I beat him too, I’m on that level, Floyd should come out and fight me.' It’s a tough fight for Amir Khan in my opinion. Canelo Alvarez is for real, he can fight, he can punch, he has good head and waist movement, he’s a pretty slick guy himself," Byrd told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.

Byrd feels Khan is very ballsy for taking such a dangerous challenge. He wonders what Khan will do - if he wins - whether he will move back down or remain at middleweight with the big men.

"Canelo can fight all around, he can box or he can brawl, and that’s tough for Amir Khan. Amir seems like he doesn’t take a great punch, and doing that and jumping up a weight class, he may feel the effects of it with Alvarez. Canelo is a solid guy and he can fight, I look at it to be an interesting fight especially seeing Amir Khan jumping to that weight class and seeing what he can do there fighting Canelo Alvarez," Byrd said.

"Is it a one and done, or is Khan going to stay there? If Khan wins, he’s gotta stay there and fight all the guys there, which makes it harder for him to try to challenge all those big guys up in that weight class. It’s an interesting match up, it’s speed vs. power, movement and speed. It’s a difficult fight for Amir Khan but more props to him for taking up the challenge."