King Khan Challenges Canelo Alvarez - Preview & Prediction

When: May 7th, 2016

Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV

On May 7th, 2016 Britain's own Amir "King" Khan, a former welterweight title holder, will go toe-to-toe with current middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez for Alvarez' WBC Middleweight Title. This will be Canelo's first title defense since winning the belt in November by defeating Miguel Cotto by unanimous decision.

The fight will be at a catch-weight of 155lbs and will be taking place on HBO Pay-Per-View at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Canelo is coming into this fight with an overall record of 46(32 KO)-1-1, with his only loss coming at the hands of Floyd Mayweather and his lone draw coming from a 4-round contest early in his career. Alvarez will be making his first title defense since his UD win over Miguel Cotto for his WBC Middleweight Title in November.

Khan will be entering the ring with an overall record of 31(19 KO)-3-0, with 2 of his 3 losses coming in his last 7 fights. This will be Khan's first fight in the middleweight division, his last four fights taking place in the welterweight division. Khan will be making a return to the ring after a 12-month layoff, earning a UD win over Chris Algieri last May (Khan was hoping to get a shot at Mayweather or Pacquiao last fall but neither of those negotiations fell thru)

This fight was a huge surprise to the boxing world with no word of negotiations even being held between the two parties. Both boxers will be looking to move towards more lucrative bouts each fighter has their eye on later on this year.

Khan, who is continuing to try and prove himself to the American public will attempt move closer to a either a rematch with welterweight titlist Danny Garcia or put on a fight against his fellow countryman Kell Brook for his IBF welterweight title.

Canelo on the other hand will be one step closer to setting up what will undoubtedly be the fight of the year and is hands down the biggest fight that the boxing world has to offer, going against middleweight champion Gennady "GGG" Golovkin. This fight is being reported to take place September 17 at AT&T Stadium, better known as "Jerry's World" and home of the Dallas Cowboys, so long as both fighters win their next fight (GGG will face Dominic Wade April 23rd)

Prediction: (Canelo wins via TKO in Round 6) 
Canelo's size and power will be too much for Khan, who has great foot and hand speed but is considered to have a glass chin. Khan's speed should help him last for a while in the ring but eventually the hits will take their toll and slow him down. After weigh-ins Canelo usually inflates himself back to somewhere around 170lbs by fight time. Khan, a true welterweight, fighting usually around 147lbs will struggle just to reach the catch-weight at 155, let alone add the extra 15lbs Canelo will walk into the ring with. Khan may think he can out-point Canelo the way that Mayweather did in 2013, Canelo's only loss of his professional career, but Khan is nowhere near Floyd's skills and knowledge of the sweet science that is boxing. Canelo also has a couple more years of experience under his belt since his only defeat and has  greatly improved his skill set since he took on the pound-4-pound champion at the age of 23.