By Edward Chaykovsky
Showtime Boxing analyst Steve Farhood is trying very hard to figure out the logic behind Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs) deciding to jump up in weight to face WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (46-1-1, 32KOs) at a contracted limit of 155-pounds.
The fight happens on May 7th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Khan has not fought beyond the welterweight limit of 147-pounds and Canelo at times will rehydrate to a light heavyweight level on fight night.
Farhood understands why Khan accepted Canelo as an opponent. He believes Khan took the fight due to years of frustration from being passed over by high profile opponents like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Danny Garcia.
Fighting Canelo is not the problem in Farhood's eyes. In the opinion of Farhood, the real problem is fighting Canelo at a catch-weight of 155 with no rehydration clause on fight day.
He felt Canelo's size advantage played a big role in his victory over Miguel Cotto last November. That fight also took place at a 155-pounds. After the fight was over, Cotto's trainer Freddie Roach complained about Canelo's size advantage.
According to Khan, the 155 limit is not far away from his walking weight.
"You saw how much bigger Canelo was than Cotto when they fought and I think that was a large part of Canelo’s advantage over Cotto and why he beat him. Khan’s a really good fighter, from day one I said I thought he would have given Floyd a ton of trouble. He’s a good boxer, but is he strong enough to keep Canelo off of him? I just doubt that, I just find it off that he would be fighting a junior middleweight at a catch weight of 155-pounds. I don’t think it’s the greatest match up for Khan," Canelo told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
