HE MAY HAVE spent the past six months trying to tempt Floyd Mayweather out of retirement but it’s not a bad runner-up prize for Amir Khan as he gets set to take on Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez for the WBC world middleweight title on 7 May.
While the British boxer has fought as high as welterweight in his career — though only on three occasions — he has decided to take on Canelo at 155lbs; the Mexican having won his last four bouts at that weight, including last time out against Miguel Cotto for the then-vacant WBC title.
It’s a risky fight for Khan, who walks around at 140lbs, to take on a fighter cutting from a natural weight of 180lbs but, speaking last December, it’s a fight Golden Boy Promotions founder Oscar De La Hoya said he would love to make.
He told KO Artist:
Amir Khan is a fighter who is very versatile, and he’s a fan-favorite fighter. Think about his fights; he’s always in an exciting fight. He goes down; he gets back up. He’s exciting. So I think Amir Khan vs. Canelo would be interesting.”
The former Olympic silver-medallist at Athens announced the bout via Twitter this afternoon.
Which was swiftly followed by a slick video:
