By Carlos Boogs
As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Amir Khan (31-4, 19KOs) will be looking for revenge in the fall.
Last Saturday night, 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.
Former two division world champion and Showtime Boxing analyst Paulie Malignaggi has tabbed Khan as the favorite if he ever steps in the ring with Garcia. He believes Khan is a better fighter and better skilled.
Because of his knockout defeat, Khan will be under a medical suspension for a few months. Once that is over, the WBC will order a mandatory fight between Khan and Garcia.
"If Amir never fought Danny Garcia or (Breidis) Prescott who would you pick to win? Even in a rematch, who would you pick?" Malignaggi said. "It'd be very hard for Danny to beat him in a rematch, he was losing the fight the first time. I don't think Danny got lucky - Amir should have recognised what was going on - Danny was punching with him. (But) Amir has the best jab in boxing. Can you think of a better one? It's definitely one of the top two or three jabs."
