By Norm Frauenheim
LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez stood on a stage, beneath threatening skies and surrounded by weathered, scarred and aging faces of fighters who have been what he hopes to be.
He looked to his right and saw Roberto Duran. To his left, he saw Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins. Each has been where Canelo wants to go.
“The thing is, I want to be legend,’’ he said during a conference call a couple of weeks before his fight Saturday night against Amir Khan in a defense of his WBC middleweight title at the new T-Mobile Arena.
There is no map, no well-traveled path, on how to get there. For every great fighter on the stage Friday for a weigh-in in front of the T-Mobile Arena, there were different challenges and controversies. They are legends, in part, because of skill, durability, style and guts.
There’s also luck. Legend making can be as unpredictable as the approaching weather. But there was no downpour Friday despite dark clouds that promised a desert storm. It was just coincidence, but legends can’t be made without good timing. For Canelo, the timing has been almost perfect throughout his career.
De La Hoya, his promoter, calls him the game’s new face. He might not be quite there yet. But Canelo is in the right place and precisely at the right time to put a face on a game that has begun to search for one.
Maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr. is coming back. Maybe not. Crazy stories about him fighting UFC star Conor McGregor are just a sure sign that the comeback talk will be with us at least until we know whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is moving into the White House next year.
Early next week, we’ll know whether Manny Pacquiao is a new Filipino Senator. Elections are scheduled for May 9. After beating Timothy Bradley on April 9, Pacquiao said he’s “50-50” on retirement. If he wins a seat in the Filipino Senate, it will get a lot harder for him to move back into the ring.
Opportunity is in the forecast.
Years from now, Canelo’s date with Khan might not be considered critical. It’ll only be critical if he loses, and few expect that in a 155-pound bout against a skilled, yet undersized Khan, who has been at more than 140 pounds only four times before a two-division jump for a spot on Saturday HBO’s pay-per-view card (6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET).
For Canelo (46-1-1, 32 KOs), the key is not so much in if he wins. It’s in how.
If Canelo is a legend in the making, he has to look good – very good — against Khan (31-3, 19 KOs). Five-to-one odds in favor of Canelo suggest that the Mexican will dominate in a style that will only further speculation about a showdown with Gennady Golovkin, who plans to be at the fight.
At the sports book and on the scale, he has key advantages. He is expected to be 17 to 18 pounds heavier than he was Friday. That means Khan, who is not expected to heavier than 165 at opening bell, could be facing a fighter who is a couple of pounds short of being a light-heavyweight. Khan’s quick feet might not be fast enough to keep Canelo off him throughout the scheduled 12 rounds.
“I’m confident that this is my time,’’ Khan said at the weigh-in.
If Khan stays disciplined and resists the temptation to trade punches, maybe it will be his time. Slick defense and agile footwork are supposed to keep him out of range, and away from Canelo’s dangerous combinations.
From start to finish, however, Canelo’s stubborn pursuit and upper-body strength figure to keep the pressure on. The betting odds are one-sided because few think Khan can stick to his game plan. One moment of fatigue, physical and/or mental, could leave Khan’s vulnerable chin open for the KO combo that many believe is inevitable, perhaps in the later rounds of just one chapter in a bigger story.
Notes From The Scale: David Lemieux has been mentioned as a possible foe for Canelo. However, Lemieux has had trouble making 160, much less 155. Lemieux (34-3, 31 KOs) was right at 160 Friday for his middleweight bout Saturday against Glen Tapia (23-2, 15 KOs), who was at 159.5. …Curtis Stevens (27-5, 20 KOs) was at 160 and Patrick Teixeira (26-0, 22 KOs) was at a 159. …Mauricio Herrera (22-5, 7 KOs was at 145.5 and Frankie Gomez (20-0, 13 KOs) at 146 for their welterweight bout.
