Ultimately, it all ended as many predicted and feared for Amir Khan.
Taking the brave, and, in hindsight, foolhardy decision to step up two weight divisions to face Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, one of the most fearsome punchers in boxing, was always going to be an enormous challenge for Khan.
So it proved on Sunday morning at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when, after encouraging work in the early rounds, Khan suffered a brutal sixth-round knockout. Canelo’s size and weight, which was as much as 175 pounds on fight night compared to the 155lbs catchweight limit for their middleweight title contest at the weigh-in, was too vast, and the Mexican’s power too strong.
This was a classic case of cat and mouse. Khan, with his superior hand speed, aimed to use his lateral movement to stay on the outside, unload crisp combos, then move out of range. Alvarez, on the other hand, wanted to shut down those angles, cut off the ring, and land bombs.
Khan, 29, did enjoy some early success with a defensive plan that was a near carbon copy of the elusiveness that Floyd Mayweather Jr built his unblemished career on. But as they say in boxing, all it takes is one punch, and Alvarez certainly has one of those in his arsenal.
Climbing two divisions for any fighter often poses unique challenges, but for one of Khan’s make-up, where speed outweighs power and a suspect chin always casts doubt over an ability to last the distance, to take on an iron-fisted warrior like Alvarez, was a near suicide mission. Let’s make no mistake, the shot that caught Khan would deck a rhino.
Related:
Fight report: Saul Alvarez KOs Amir Khan; calls out Gennady Golovkin: 'I fear no one in this sport'
Steve Luckings on Fury-Klitschko II: Defeat to Fury last time out could prove an invaluable lesson for Klitschko
As Lennox Lewis claimed in the build-up to the fight: “It will be much like a contest between a matador and a bull. The bull can afford to make many mistakes. The matador only one.”
So for Alvarez, already a superstar, it’s onwards and upwards and a likely showdown with WBA and IBF Middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin in a battle for boxing’s unofficial pound-for-pound title.
But what next for Khan?
Many felt pre-fight, amid the shock of the announcement, that this would be a no-lose situation for the former light-welterweight world champion. No one expected Khan to win, and by agreeing to the fight he had thrust himself back into the limelight after two years of toiling due to, in part, two unsuccessful attempts to secure a fight with Mayweather.
Yet, the manner of the defeat to Alvarez should alter that pre-fight view. Any fighter on the receiving end of such a devastating knockout will be affected. Some enter a dark space psychologically, like Ricky Hatton after his similarly ruthless knockout at the hands of Manny Pacquiao in 2009. "I was near to a nervous breakdown; depression, suicidal," Hatton said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) superstar Ronda Rousey shared similar feelings after her shock defeat to Holly Holm in November last year. “I was literally sitting there and thinking about killing myself and that exact second I’m like, ‘I’m nothing, what do I do anymore, and no one [cares] about me anymore without this,’” she said on the Ellen DeGeneres talk show.
This is not to say Khan will experience such extreme lows, but there will undoubtedly be moments of self-doubt, and at the very least a knock to his confidence. We see time and again the effects ebbing self-belief has on professional athletes, and those are cases not brought on by being knocked unconscious in a career-defining defeat.
Even if Khan were to recover from the psychological and physical damage imposed by Alvarez, he will need to tread a very careful line, at least in the short term. He will need to avoid heavy hitters in his next few fights, and rebuild his reputation in his more natural welterweight division. An all-British megafight with Kell Brook will certainly have to wait.
A boxer’s career is a perilous one, and another defeat in the 147lbs division would surely spell the end for Khan’s mission for global superstardom.
And therein lies Khan’s biggest problem: His determination, dare it be said desperation, to achieve superstar status, top bills in Las Vegas, and rake in the millions only Mayweather and Pacquiao have achieved in this generation has seemingly led to a series of poor decisions that has slowed down what should be an exciting and illustrious career.
He took on the Alvarez fight as a way to fast-track his mission, and in doing so, may have actually set himself back.
One need only to have glanced over the Atlantic four hours before Khan’s doomed night in Nevada where WBA Lightweight world champion Anthony Crolla, in front of a packed and raucous MEN Arena, defended his title in seven thrilling and unrelenting rounds against Ismael Barroso. Crolla, a fighter of humble beginnings and hugely popular with fans and the boxing community, has taken a more patient and steady trajectory. His reward is a rapidly growing fan base, an ability to sell out arenas, and a world title.
Of course, boxers progress through their careers at varying trajectories, and Khan’s was always going to be quick given the attention he earned as a 17-year-old Olympic silver medallist at the 2004 Games in Athens.
However, as the past few years of his career would attest, Khan would have benefited from a steadier approach at times. At the very least, it would have meant avoiding the ill-fated showdown with Alvarez.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
