Canelo Alvarez successfully defended his middleweight crown this weekend when he scored a highlight reel knockout against a ballooned up version of welterweight Amir Khan. This was not a situation like when Ray Leonard challenged Marvin Hagler, or even like when Oscar De La Hoya challenged Bernard Hopkins. This was something different altogether. Not only was Canelo defending the highly coveted middleweight crown below the 160 pound limit, but he was also facing an opponent who had mediocre success at 147 and had never even competed north of that weight class. This has become a sad and growing trend in the middleweight division, where the title hasn’t been defended at the official 160 pound weight limit in years.
