Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan: Oscar De La Hoya Says Khan Can 'Easily' Beat Alvarez
On May 7th, Mexican boxing sensation Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will be defending his WBC middleweight title for the first time.
Alvarez is slated to face former world champion Amir Khan in a 155-pound catch-weight at the newly constructed T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The winner of the said fight is slated to face the WBC's mandatory middleweight title challenger, Gennady Golovkin.
Golovkin, of course, would need to come out victorious in his own upcoming fight against fellow undefeated fighter Dominic Wade on Saturday, April 23rd, at the Forum in California.
With less than a month until fight night, Las Vegas oddmakers have Alvarez as the expected favorite, while Khan is the underdog. Oddsshark has Alvarez as a -300 favorite, while Khan is currently a +240 underdog. Yet, despite the odds, many fighters believe that "King Khan" would be able to pull the upset against the hard-hitting Canelo.
For former lineal middleweight champion Andre Ward, it will be Khan's size, along with his training under Virgil Hunter that will help him achieve victory. Ironically, six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya also believes that the British boxer will be able to defeat Alvarez.
In a report by The Daily Star's Declan Taylor for Boxingscene.com, "The Golden Boy" even believes that Khan would be able to win in dominant fashion.
"This is the classic match up between Amir's speed and Canelo's power," said De La Hoya, who promotes Alvarez under his Golden Boy Promotions banner. "Amir will have to fight the perfect fight, but if he does that, stays on the outside, moves side to side, he not only wins, but wins easy."
De La Hoya also noted about Khan's willingness to stand and trade with any fighter.
"Amir does like to engage and get dragged into a fight," he added. "He has a natural fighter's instinct to engage."
Khan holds a win-loss record of 31-3, with 19 wins by knockout. Alvarez, on the other hand, banners a record of 46-1-1, with 32 wins by knockout.
