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.
Despite facing a boxer who was naturally much smaller, Canelo struggled with Khan in the early rounds, looking slow, clumsy, and even amateurish at times. Khan utilized his vast advantage in hand speed, and was able to put together some nice and flashy flurries. They didn’t inflict much damage, but they were enough to win rounds and befuddle the Mexican champion. To his credit, Canelo made some subtle adjustments during the 4th round, which enabled him to begin to neutralize his smaller foe’s quicker hands. Canelo would take command of the action in the 5th, clearly shifting the momentum his way, before scoring the devastating knockout blow in the 6th round. It was a spectacular knockout win, but it exposed the fact that Canelo still suffers from many of the same deficiencies that were first exploited by Floyd Mayweather Jr 3 long years ago.
Now Canelo is supposedly mandated to defend his WBC title against Gennady Golovkin later this year. But will Canelo really grant Golovkin his well deserved shot at the middleweight crown? This edition of Rummy’s Corner explores that question while also providing a brief recap into the surprisingly exciting match-up that transpired between Canelo and Amir Khan. Please watch and enjoy the video for one man’s worthless take on these situations.
