Amir Khan says he didn't want to demand a rehydration clause for his forthcoming fight with Saul Alvarez because he wants to make the biggest possible statement in his first bout above welterweight.
Former world champion Khan will fight above welterweight for the first time in his career at a catchweight of 155lbs, officially middleweight, to challenge Alvarez for the Mexican’s WBC title in Las Vegas on May 7.
Given the significant difference in size between challenger and champion when they appeared together in London, it appeared a risky oversight that Khan did not demand a restriction on Alvarez’s weight on fight night.
Alvarez’s frame means there is little to stop him gaining a further 20lbs after weighing in to effectively compete at light-heavyweight and therefore leaving Khan, the underdog who turned professional as a lightweight, at an even greater disadvantage.
Read more: Amir Khan takes to Twitter to confirm Las Vegas fight against Canelo Alvarez
However, the catchweight limit is only a pound over light-middleweight and fully five pounds below the official middleweight limit, meaning it’s practically a light-middleweight fight, which is the next division above Khan’s welterweight category.
Alvarez has operated at light-middleweight for most of his career but won the WBC title against Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto when two light-middleweights fought at the same 155lbs catchweight for a middleweight belt.
Khan’s best chance comes in using his superior speed and mobility, but he still maintained he hadn’t taken an unnecessary risk with the weight issue.
“I wanted to do everything naturally because when I beat him I wanted to beat him fair and square and I don’t want people thinking ‘he was too dehydrated, he was too small, he couldn’t put weight on’,” said Khan, who hasn’t fought since beating Chris Algieri in May last year.
“I want to beat the best Alvarez, fight the best Alvarez. The fights I’ve been watching he was really hydrated, and normal, where he was happy making the weight.
“Yeah (we considered a clause), I spoke to Virgil (Hunter, trainer), and Virgil is the one who said to me ‘look, if you’re happy with the fight, it’s a good fight for us’.
“He’s been watching videos (of Alvarez) as well. What I have to do is stick to the game-plan. I can’t make any mistakes or be a guy who loses focus or makes mistakes because I can get hurt for that.”
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
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Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
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Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
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Director: Jafar Panahi
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Rating: 4/5
