The last week or so, Khan has prepared for the biggest fight of his life by talking about Floyd Mayweather Jr. This seems to be strange considering he won’t be fighting the retired boxer. Saturday night, Khan will walk into the new T Mobile Arena as a sizeable underdog against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in what will be a career defining fight for him.
Many fans see this as a potential blowout for Alvarez because of the perception that Khan has a weak chin. Those questions stem from Khan’s TKO loss to the undefeated underdog, Danny Garcia. What has been forgotten is that Khan dominated the first two rounds before a left hook caught him in the waning moments of the 3rd round. He never fully recovered as Garcia poured it on in the fourth round causing referee, Kenny Bayless, to stop the fight.
In his next fight, Khan came into Washington DC as a heavy favorite against hometown favorite, Lamont Peterson. In what appeared to be an easy fight to score, Khan lost a controversial decision to Peterson. Golden Boy appealed the decision to the WBA and IBF based on several factors but the appeal never went anywhere.
Since the loss to Peterson, Khan has won 5 straight against “B” level competition. Khan’s most impressive win during the streak was against Devon Alexander. In the Alexander win, Khan showed world class hand speed and a scoring jab. The combination of the two produced a relatively easy win over the southpaw Alexander followed by an even easier win over Chris Algieri.
The win streak along with Golden Boy’s unwillingness to match Alvarez with fan favorite Gennady Golovkin, has provided Khan with the opportunity that has always alluded him. The combination of Khan and trainer, Virgil Hunter, makes this an intriguing fight. Don’t expect Khan to implement a Mayweather type plan but it wouldn’t shock most boxing fans, if Khan and Hunter implemented a game plan that looks a lot like the one Erislandy Lara used.
Khan knows to achieve the stardom he craves, it will take two wins over Alvarez and one over Golovkin. That is a tall task and would represent one of the greatest 3 win runs in boxing history. The only question remains, can he pull it off?
Follow Marcus “Mook” Washington on Twitter at @mtcwithmook
