By Edward Chaykovsky
If Amir Khan wants to ensure that he has a chance at upsetting Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, veteran trainer Abel Sanchez is advising him to avoid 'being brave' in the contest.
Khan (31-3, 32KOs), who fights at welterweight, is moving up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds to challenge Canelo (46-1-1, 32KOs) for the WBC middleweight championship.
The HBO Pay-Per-View fight takes place on May 7th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Sanchez has no dog in this fight, but he does have an obvious interest in the contest. His star fighter, IBO/IBF/WBA middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (34-0, 31KOs) , is the mandatory challenger to the WBC championship. The winner of Canelo-Khan must face GGG in the summer or vacate the title.
"I don’t think that’s such a bad fight to tell you the truth. I think that Amir Khan being able to move up in weight, maybe it will give him a better chin. People say he has a glass chin but I think that the weight may have drained him in the past," Sanchez told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
"About thirty years ago, a man named Roberto Duran moved up two divisions and fought Ray Leonard what was at the time the darling of the media, and he beat Leonard in Montreal. Then he moved up another thirteen pounds and fought Marvin Hagler at 160-pounds, and lost a very close decision."
"The weight may make a difference, but also you have to remember that Canelo will be 25lbs heavier after the weigh in. He’ll be slow afoot and Khan’s hand speed and foot speed may make the difference. Khan just can’t get brave."
Sanchez has a lot of respect for Khan's trainer, Virgil Hunter, and expects him to keep the British star focused in the contest.
"I think that Virgil can keep him focused in the corner. Khan just has to listen to Virgil and not get brave. He has to listen because I’m sure that Virgil has looked at those tapes and I’m sure he has a game plan for them, and that involves staying on the outside and not getting brave, just fight your fight," Sanchez said.
