The Boxing world is one with a very active rumor mill that tends to play a part in whether super fights actually ever take place. Today (February 2), fans of the sport were caught off guard as Golden Boy Promotions announced that the UK’s Amir Khan will take on Middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for the WBC title on May 7th, Cinco De Mayo weekend.
Aside from the fact that there was no prior information leaked to the public that the two parties were even in the talks, Khan will be jumping up two weight divisions to fight the Mexican star at a catch-weight of 155 lbs. Though Khan is coming in as the underdog, the size differential is not as glaring upon further inspection. Alvarez fights at 155 lbs, which is five pounds under the middleweight limit and just one over the junior middleweight limit. This fact bodes well for Khan who was once the unified junior welterweight titleholder and has since jumped up to the 147 welterweight division in the past 18 months.
The fight, which will air on HBO PPV does not yet have a setting. With today’s announcement, there have been rumblings that the bout will take place at the new T-Mobile Arena which holds 20,000 seats and is set to be opened in April right off the Las Vegas strip. Emerging as boxing’s preeminent star, Canelo Alvarez bested Miguel Cotto for the Middleweight world title in November of last year and PPV buys for that fight raked in 900K buys. This was second to the record breaking 4.6 Million set by Mayweather-Pacquaio last spring.
Even with Alvarez being the clear favorite, Khan is no slouch. The British fighter has notched 31 wins over his decade long career, 19 by way of KO. Thus giving this bout the potential to be the exciting showdown boxing fans have been clamoring for.
