By Edward Chaykovsky
British superstar Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs) admits that his trainer, Virgil Hunter, initially advised him to stay away from a proposed fight with WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (46-1-1, 32KOs).
The HBO Pay-Per-View fight is set for May 7th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Khan has been inactive since last May's decision win over former WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri.
The contest is set for a catch-weight of 155-pounds. Khan has to move up by eight-pounds from his fighting weight in the welterweight division.
Khan was forced to persuade his training to allow him to move forward with the contest. He actually gave Hunter the strategy on what needs to be done in order to overcome Canelo's size advantage.
"At first he said stay away from this guy. Then he said only do this if you really feel you need it. Then I explained how I believe we can win this fight," Khan said. "I grabbed a couple of videos of Canelo fights and what I saw convinced me it is possible for me to beat him."
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Canelo, had no doubts about Khan accepting the fight.
"I knew Amir would say yes. He’s a very fast, very skilful boxer but he’s also a fighting man who likes to take risks and is willing to fight anyone. Same as Canelo," De La Hoya said.
Canelo on the other hand was surprised Khan accepted the proposal and signed his name on the contract. He expected Khan to turn down the fight.
"At first I was a little surprised that Khan agreed. But then I realised that he never ducks anyone or any challenge," Canelo said.
