By Victor Salazar
New York, NY- Come May 7th, HBO will stage it's first pay-per-view of the year when Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (46-1-1, 32KOs) makes the first defense of his WBC middleweight crown against welterweight contender Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs), who moves up by eight pounds to a catch-weight of 155 pounds. The fight takes place at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Although the fight may have star power and some intrigue, many insiders view it as a physical mismatch because of the size difference and the vulnerability of Khan’s chin.
To HBO analyst Max Kellerman, it’s a tall order for Khan.
“What’s Khan’s undoing is his chin,” Kellerman told BoxingScene.com. “He’s game but that hurts him. He’s long and tall, fast hands and feet. Canelo doesn’t have fast feet, but he has fast hands. In a sense he reminds me of James Toney because he doesn’t have fast feet, he wants you to come to him, so he can slide with his upper body and counter you.”
Kellerman sees a little bit of Roy Jones in Khan - and reflects on when Jones used his physical gifts to beat James Toney many years ago. But at the end of the day, Kellerman still feels that a lot must go right in order for Khan to come out on top.
“Khan is the kind of fighter that could take advantage of slow feet and give you angles and keeps you turning at a distance which is what Roy did to James Toney but Amir Khan is a smaller fighter moving up in weight. He doesn’t take a great punch against smaller guys. It’s a lot to think he could put it all together against Canelo," Kellerman said.