Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez showed there are weight classes for a reason in 2016.
The Mexican boxing superstar was arguably the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet at the time and held the WBC and The Ring middleweight titles after dethroning Miguel Cotto in November 2015.
Canelo shocked the world when he announced the opponent for his first defense would be Amir Khan, who was a former unified champion at light-welterweight.
The Englishman, infamous for his suspect chin, made the wild decision to move up to 155lbs to challenge one of boxing’s biggest punchers.
The story of Canelo Alvarez vs Amir Khan
Amir Khan’s move up in weight did not end well on May 7, 2016.
‘King’ got off to a good start. The blisteringly fast Brit was able to use his famous fast hands to bamboozle Canelo for the first few rounds of their clash at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
However, it always seemed to be just a matter of time until he got caught cleanly as Alvarez got closer to landing something big as the rounds progressed.
In the sixth frame, Canelo closed the show with a one-shot KO that left Khan motionless on the canvas.
A massive overhand right while his opponent was moving forward was enough to close the show and earn Canelo 2016’s KO of the Year award.
Khan remained on the floor for several scary moments before rising to his feet. Unfortunately, he never looked the same after that fight and ultimately retired with a 34-6 record in 2022.
Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan reflect on their fight
In 2022, Canelo reflected on his best KOs in a DAZN documentary.
While talking about his fight with Khan, the 34-year-old explained that his initial emotion after the finish was not jubilation, it was concern for his opponent, who he feared he may have killed.
“With Amir Khan, he scared me a little, I felt a bit worried,” Canelo said.
“I actually went over to see if he was okay. It was the natural reaction. The knockout was too strong. And on top of that, when he fell to the canvas he twisted his neck badly.
“So, I thought something more than a knockout had happened.”
Khan recently revealed his purse for the Canelo fight, which explains why he was willing to move through the weights to face a massive puncher as an underdog.
“It was like times three or four,” he said when asked about his payday during an appearance on The Stomping Ground podcast.
“It’s crazy money. When that deal was put to me, it was like 11, 12 million.
“Look at this this way, I had to fight Danny Garcia, [Andreas] Kotelnik, Zab Judah, [Lamont] Peterson, and maybe like a [Phil] Lo Greco. Five fights to make that much.
“It’s not the fight that’s hard, it’s the training camps. So, when you get an opportunity like that you’re going to take it because you know it’s only one fight instead of you taking five fights.
“Canelo knocked me out, fine. He knocked me out with one shot, but you probably took more damage in all them other ones.