Amir Khan is in the unique position of being a fighter who shared a ring with both Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, therefore it’s worth hearing what Khan has to say about the upcoming September super fight between the two pound-for-pound stars. And Khan, who spoke with Sky Sports, is wondering if Canelo will be able to catch Crawford with his heavy shots the way he was able to catch him.
Khan, who was doing well against Canelo before being levelled in quite brutal fashion when he fought the Mexican great some years back, feels Crawford’s speed could give the defending super middleweight champ problems. But of course, Canelo has that damaging power. Khan is very much interested in the September fight, as are plenty of fans.
Can Canelo’s heavy shot find Crawford’s chin?
“When I was fighting Canelo I was probably beating him on points but he was just so strong and so big,” Khan said. “When I was hitting him I could see that it wasn’t affecting him. The guy was riding them and waiting for that one big shot which he caught me with and put me away. But is he going to catch Crawford with that shot? At the moment Crawford looks unbeatable and Canelo looks strong and especially fighting a smaller guy he looks unbeatable. So let’s see how this plays out. Is skill going to win that fight or power?”
A great question. Canelo has the power, and some skills of course, while Crawford has amazing skills, and some power as far as the sharpness of his punches, and the often amazing accuracy of his punches.
Will Crawford’s speed outshine Canelo’s strength?
Khan did show, for a few rounds at least, that Canelo can be befuddled with speed and movement, and maybe Crawford can hit and not get hit, maybe he can frustrate Canelo and bag rounds on points. But can Crawford do this for all 12 rounds without being caught the way Khan was caught?
Crawford and Khan are two totally different fighters of course, but it just might be that “Bud” has checked out a tape of the Canelo-Khan fight, and maybe he liked what he saw from the challenger. For a few rounds, anyway.
As for his pick for who wins the big fight, Khan signed off by saying:
“I’m not going to predict who’s going to win but I know it will be a hell of a fight.”
Let’s hope so.
