Showtime and HBO will have competing boxing shows on December 13th. On Showtime, Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) faces Devon Alexander (26-2, 14 KOs) in the main event at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. On the same night on HBO, former two division world champion Timothy Bradley will be in action against Diego Chaves.
The good news for boxing fans is neither of them will be on pay-per-view, but it’s still not a great thing unless you’ve got Tivo and can record one of the fight cards while viewing the other.
Khan, #1 WBC, #2 WBA, #6, needed a big name to give him a chance to fight WBA/WBC welterweight Floyd Mayweather Jr for next May. Roberto “The Ghost” Guerrero had been one of the names that had been mentioned to be a possibility for Khan, but Alexander got the fight.
It’s probably a better match-up for Khan, because Guerrero’s a better inside fighter than Alexander is. Guerrero would have given Khan a lot of problems with his body shots, and with the way he likes to walk down his opponents. Khan would have been forced to do a lot of clinching and pushing off to keep Guerrero from working him over the way Lamont Peterson did in their fight in 2011.
The Khan-Alexander undercard will have WBO junior middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade defending his title against the unbeaten #2 IBF, #2 WBO Jermell Charlo. Undefeated interim WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman will be fighting on the card as well against an opponent still to be determined.
“We at Golden Boy are partners with everyone and this is what you see here,” De La Hoya said via Kevin Iole at Yahoo Sports. “It couldn’t be avoided [having the shows on the same night], so there will be different start times. I’ve talked to HBO about it. I’ve talked to [Top Rank president] Todd duBoef about it. I’ve talked to Showtime. We have so many dates and so many fighters, this couldn’t be avoided, but the good thing is, we’re giving the fans a great show and that’s the most important thing.”
It’ll be interesting to see if Khan can get past Alexander, because this is a much better opponent than the guys Khan has been feasting on since he was knocked out by Danny Garcia in 2012. Khan has won his last three fights, but against weak opposition in Carlos Molina, Julio Diaz and Luis Collazo. Alexander is a step or two above those guys, but not as dangerous as Keith Thurman.
The fact that Khan is finally facing a quality opponent after two years of soft opposition suggests that he’s hoping that a win over Alexander will be a big enough victory to get him the Mayweather fight next year in May. Khan will not only have to beat Alexander, but he’ll need to do it in an impressive manner without holding and running all night long he did in his fight against Collazo. That was a really ugly fight to watch because of all the grabbing and head-locks Khan put on Collazo.
