Boxing: Amir Khan and the Potential for Shattered Glass

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

If he works long enough and hard enough in the gym, a fighter can sharpen his boxing skills. He can tighten up his defense, improve his footwork and learn to make in-bout adjustments. Sometimes, he can even increase his punching power -- a gift many believe comes naturally or not at all. Thomas Hearns almost always fought to decisions as an amateur, but he evolved into a knockout machine upon turning pro, having mastered the art of rotating his hips and turning his fist over at the precise moment to maximize the snap in his suddenly devastating overhand right.

However, most longtime observers of the Sweet Science would agree, there are no exercises that can magically turn a glass jaw into a granite one. A fighter either has a “good beard,” as the saying goes, or he does not.

There is a school of thought that Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs), who challenges WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in an HBO Pay-Per-View event on May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, has a chin that runs more to a crystal chandelier than to solid rock. For someone moving up two weight classes -- all right, so it is not quite a full two, as Alvarez demanded and got a catchweight of 155 pounds -- and facing one of the sport’s biggest boppers, it would seem to add up to a quick, emphatic exit for the flashy former WBA and IBF super lightweight titlist from Lancashire, England.

When you factor in the fact that it is also Cinco de Mayo weekend and Alvarez is Mexico’s most beloved fighter, the chances of Khan pulling off the upset seem all the more unlikely. Although Alvarez is a 2½-to-1 favorite, man-to-man, the Nevada sportsbook odds are probably narrower than they would be were it not for the fact that a heavy influx of wagers on Khan is expected from the wave of visitors from the United Kingdom who tend to bet with their hearts instead of their heads.

Count Angel Garcia, the father-manager of WBC welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia, among those who are skeptical that the 29-year-old Khan can play keepaway from Alvarez for 12 rounds, at least well enough to emerge victorious on the scorecards. It was Garcia, after all, who confidently predicted his son would starch the favored Khan when they met in a super lightweight unification bout on July 14, 2012. The younger Garcia delivered on his father’s assurances, flooring the 2004 Olympic silver medalist three times en route to a fourth-round stoppage.

“If you don’t have a strong chin, you can’t create one,” said the elder Garcia, who still believes Khan’s Achilles’ heel is located somewhere in the vicinity of his lower lip. “Look, Khan is a good fighter with speed. Is it going to be OK for him to fight someone like Canelo at 155? I don’t know if the extra weight is going to make him stronger; maybe it’ll make him a little slower. I’m pretty sure it won’t make his chin stronger. Canelo’s a puncher, we all know that. The only way Khan has any chance against Canelo is to use his speed and outbox him. I don’t discount the possibility of that happening, but he still has to stand in there and fight sometimes; he won’t just be able to run around the ring. He’s got to take chances to land some shots, which means he’s going to take some, too; and I think Canelo is just too strong for him.

“I can see Canelo winning either way, on a decision or on a knockout,” he added. “Khan, I think, can only win on points. It’s hard to see that happening on the weekend of a big Mexican celebration.”

Khan has heard all the reasons why he supposedly is unworthy of even sharing the same ring with Alvarez, much less beating him. “Canelo” is too big, too powerful, too popular and too primed to become boxing’s Next Big Thing with the announced retirements of superstars Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Khan is the little guy moving up into an unfamiliar and presumably more dangerous weight class, the guy who knows the awful feeling of having his senses scrambled when nailed flush on that questionable chin. One of his other two defeats was a one-round wipeout at the hands of Breidis Prescott on Sept. 6, 2008.

“I know that one little mistake in a fight like this could get me in trouble,” Khan said. “I’m up against a very strong middleweight fighter. Canelo is a world champion. I know I’m not going to be stronger than Canelo in any way, but I’m going to stand with him and fight with him. I think my skills will win me the fight. I don’t think Canelo’s experienced my kind of speed with power. I will definitely shock the world come May 7. I’ve been watching video of Canelo, and day after day, I’m getting more and more convinced that I can beat this guy.”

One wonders if the list of Alvarez videos studied by Khan and his trainer, Virgil Hunter, include the one of “Canelo” needing only three rounds to bludgeon James Kirkland into a twitching heap of humanity in their matchup in Houston on May 9? That performance was good enough to have been recognized by The Ring magazine as the “Knockout of the Year” for 2015.

Frank Lotierzo, one of the most astute boxing analysts around, is even more strident than Garcia in his belief that Khan is in more peril than a cramping swimmer splashing around in chum- and Great White shark-filled waters.

“Canelo’s middleweight belt [being] on the line in a 155-pound catchweight bout vs. maybe the fifth-best welterweight in the world is a joke … There’s not a chance in the world the sometimes-brittle Khan can stand up to the hard-punching Alvarez, who Khan probably couldn’t hurt if Canelo stood right in front of him with his hands down and gave him a free shot, or two,” Lotierzo wrote for TheSweetScience.com.

Even so, the great thing about boxing is that fights are not won on paper, or with words. Khan is shooting for the moon, and while his faith in himself might be misplaced, it is refreshing that he is willing to put that faith to the test where it counts, inside the ropes.

“Whatever Canelo does in the fight, we’re going to have the answers for,” Khan said. “There’s a lot of big fights out there that don’t happen because fighters basically don’t have the balls to take those fights on. I think with me taking this fight, it will inspire other fighters to take the big fights. If you want to be remembered as a great fighter, you need to take big fights like this. I want to be remembered as a great fighter. I want to achieve everything because one day, when I leave [boxing], I don’t ever want to be, like, ‘Oh, I regret not taking this or that fight.’”

Oscar De La Hoya, chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, is keenly aware that the health and well-being of his company is largely contingent on the 25-year-old Alvarez being recognized, not only as the No. 1 attraction in boxing but as someone who eventually will be recognized as all-time great. However, De La Hoya, who won world titles in six weight classes as a pro after taking a gold medal for the United States at the 1992 Olympics, applauds Khan’s willingness to shoot for the moon. Oscar sees a lot of himself in Khan that way.

“Amir Khan is daring to be great,” De La Hoya said. “That’s exactly what it takes to make it to the top. As long as you take the challenge, that’s the only way to know if you’re going to be great or not. I won some, I lost some, but I dared to be great and I fought everybody that was put in front of me. That’s who Amir Khan is.”

For his part, Khan rejects the notion that he lacks the pop to hurt Alvarez. His walking-around weight, he noted, is that of a middleweight, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to pare himself down to 147 pounds.

“This new weight could be amazing for me,” he said. “Me and Virgil will sit down afterwards, but I think I am naturally a middleweight. By putting this extra bit of muscle on, I think it’s only going to make me stronger. I feel really strong and good and happy.”

Hunter, who also is the chief second for former undisputed super middleweight champion Andre Ward, said those who have cast Khan in the role of designated victim are in for a major surprise.

“I believe there is a great fight in him that hasn’t come out yet,” Hunter said. “That fight is in him somewhere, and I expect it to come out [against Alvarez]. It should, and it will. If it’s ever going to come out, it’ll come out that night.”

It will be interesting to see if the new, improved and enlarged Khan gets spaghetti legs when he gets popped on the kisser by Alvarez.

Bernard Fernandez, a five-term president of the Boxing Writers Association of America, received the Nat Fleischer Award from the BWAA in April 1999 for lifetime achievement and was inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005, as well as the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013. The New Orleans-born sports writer has worked in the industry since 1969 and pens a weekly column on the Sweet Science for Sherdog.com.