The back of Khan’s head bounced off the deck, prompting his corner to rush to his aid as he lay motionless for a couple of minutes.
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“Many people talk about my power but I’ve got many more qualities in the ring. I like to surprise everyone”.
Khan was taken to hospital after the fourth defeat of his career as a precaution. The attendance was recorded to be 16,540 by the end of fight.
Unless Floyd Mayweather unexpectedly remains retired, the richest fight in boxing would be between Alvarez, who in the American’s absence has succeeded him as Las Vegas’ biggest draw, and WBA and IBF champion Gennady Golovkin, incidentally present at the T-Mobile Arena.
“But I sat down and saw a few fights of Canelo’s and thought, ‘You know, this guy’s beatable”.
Khan started the fight very strong, using his superior hand speed, boxing ability and athleticism to keep the stronger, stalking Alvarez away from him.
In the sixth, with Khan getting a bit careless, Canelo had an opening for an absolute bomb of a right hand, and he made it count.
“Like I said in Mexico, ‘we don’t (expletive) around.’ We don’t come to play in this sport”. We don’t fight for rings and stuff.
“I’m not in this sport because I’m afraid”.
At Friday’s weigh-in, both boxers scaled 155 pounds, bang on the catch-weight limit.
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Cheered on by a large Mexican crowd during the Cinco de Mayo weekend, Alvarez retained his 160-pound world title in his first defence, six months after defeating Miguel Cotto. There’s no need to be afraid of a fighter like Golovkin. It is a crying shame, he is so good, he just leaves himself vulnerable and his chin resistance doesn’t cut it, or, is it like promoter Oscar De La Hoya pointed out. He told: “I was telling him [Khan] I was proud of him but he was really disappointed because he really wanted to win. We want to show him that we Mexicans come here to work hard and succeed and be victorious”. Khan, after he got off the floor and regained his senses, spoke to the TV interviewer and said he plans to carry on fighting but will move back down in weight.
