Mike Tyson once described the lure of greatness as the strongest drug in the world. It’s an intoxicant which has Amir Khan firmly in its grip.
Muhammad Ali suggested that a person with no imagination has no wings. Khan’s yearning for superstardom has never been a secret, while it also seems he has an appetite for fantasy.
Today, he is in the gym visualising what it would be like to pull off a sensational career-defining upset after becoming a protagonist in some of the most creative matchmaking of recent times.
Nobody saw it coming and few give him a prayer when he challenges Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez for the middleweight championship (at a 155lb catchweight) on May 7.
Khan has spent the past three years lobbying for a ‘superfight’ with first Floyd Mayweather and latterly Manny Pacquiao.
With those two modern greats all but gone, Canelo is the main man, and should Khan do the unthinkable and box his way to victory then he would join him at the very top.
After all, only a very select few have stepped up from welterweight to dethrone a middleweight champion.
You have to admire his courage, although sometimes there can be a fine line between bravery and hubris. Spurning a lucrative domestic brawl with Kell Brook and a WBC welterweight title shot against Danny Garcia to quite literally dream big is an exceptionally bold move. ‘Khanelo’ is a physical mismatch, pitting the British-Pakistani and his questionable chin against a stone-fisted power puncher who on the night could weigh in the region of 20-30 pounds heavier than him.
Khan might be tall and rangey but he is lean. Canelo is a tank.
It’s the epitome of a high risk, high reward scenario.
To borrow another famous quotation: “If you screw things up in tennis, it’s 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it’s your a**.” Randall Cobb’s salty synopsis seems particularly apt for Khan when considering what is at stake for him.
‘Khanelo’ is a physical mismatch… Khan may be tall and rangey but he is lean. Canelo is a tank
The notion that nobody expects him to win therefore he has nothing to lose is simplistic and crude.
Heavy knockouts and heavy defeats can ruin fighters and shave years off a career and Canelo is one of the most ruthless finishers in the sport today.
Khan has one obvious advantage: speed. He will hope his adroit footwork and slick hands – plus a genius defensive strategy from trainer Virgil Hunter – will trump Canelo’s sheer physical mass and power.
But for all his innate talent, to bewilder the bigger man for a full 36 minutes is a monumental ask.
Smaller foes than Alvarez have caught up with Khan and punished him severely.
Canelo will have little respect for his power so mobility is absolutely fundamental to his chances.
If there’s a case to be made for Khan then it is rooted in the fact that Alvarez has struggled with pure boxers in the past.
Khan will no doubt have been dissecting footage of his close call with the slippery Erislandy Lara and shutout defeat to Mayweather.
He’s won four in a row since that reverse but gains little kudos for defending the 160lb title against a brittle welter at a catchweight.
A massive underdog Khan may well be but one thing’s for sure – he won’t grow old wondering ‘what if?’. In the past he would say some of his most damaging losses have come at the negotiating table.
But having finally landed the big one he craves, he risks a lot more than a bruised ego.
