Let's Face It: Canelo-Khan Should Have Never Happened

Canelo Alvarez looked terrific against Amir Khan. He walked down a fast and very skilled opponent who had been frustrating him and laid him out in a fashion that will be long remember and replayed on countless video clips. Impressive stuff. There's a problem afoot here, though, one that needs to be mentioned:

This fight should have never happened.

Nope. Canelo should have fought the fearsome Gennady Golovkin, not a naturally smaller man from two divisions south of middleweight. At the very least Canelo should have faced a solid middleweight. This wasn't about matchmaking, though, so much as it was about sharp marketing. The goal was to have Canelo bring in money without really facing someone scary. So a top level welterweight was brought in to legitimize the proceedings.

And everyone went along with it - myself included. Oh, we let it be known that our eyebrows were raised, that we knew what the whole thing was really all about - but we still watched it, we still talked about it and, yeah, guys like me got a lot of clicks writing about it. And then we all sat there for a moment on Saturday night wondering if Khan would be able to get up. Something to think about.

It's understandable that we all bought into this - but from here on in we need to know better.

Why Canelo Has A Big Decision To Make

Canelo has things to ponder

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Canelo Alvarez is good for boxing. He's exciting, he's a decent guy (at least he was when we briefly spoke) and he brings some much needed attention to the sweet science here in the post Mayweather-Pacquiao era. With that in mind, however, Canelo has a big decision to make - provided he bests Amir Khan this weekend, as many suspect he will.

Yup, Canelo has to decide whether he wants to try to be a great fighter or if he'd rather be merely a lucrative fighter. There's a big difference between these two categories and only few are able to be both lucrative AND legitimately great. Canelo has certainly made a lot of money. What he hasn't done, however, is achieved greatness. At least not yet.

In order for him to do that, Canelo will either have to face Gennady Golovkin in the ring or give up his middleweight title and challenge himself at a weight he's more comfortable at. It really is that simple. While people will forgive Canelo for fighting the very skilled Amir Khan, the fact that Khan has never fought higher than welterweight has raised some eyebrows.

And while Canelo-Khan may well be a successful and popular fight, people will start losing respect, REALLY start losing respect, for Canelo if he continues to not face Golovkin while insisting he can keep the middleweight title. If he emerges from this weekend victorious, Canelo will indeed find himself entering a new chapter in his life with all eyes upon him.

Frankly, I'd like to see him face Golovkin. If he simply abandons the middleweight title, however, I can live with it. If Canelo wants to have his cake and eat it too, however, if he decides he wants to be king of the middleweights without fighting the number one contender, then he'll have lost me. Again, no matter what Canelo does, he can remain a hugely popular and lucrative athlete. There's big, relatively easy fights for him to make out there, after all.

In order to be great, however; in order for him to be more than a showcase fighter, he's going to have to do the uncomfortable thing. It's what greatness requires.

What If Khan Beats Canelo?

If you're like most fight fans, you take it as a matter of fact that Canelo Alvarez is pretty much going to walk down Amir Khan this May and turn him into a punching bag. It's easy to understand why. Canelo fights a significant number of pounds higher than Khan has up until now. What's more, Canelo promoter Oscar De La Hoya seems a bit skittish about having his man face GGG. It only stands to reason fans would therefore suspect that Oscar would match his star carefully against other opponents, as well.

What many of us are forgetting, however, is that Khan is an exceedingly skilled fighter. He unquestionably has his weaknesses, but Khan's ability in the ring is nothing short of impressive when he's at his best. It might also be worth keeping in mind that although Canelo may be popular, popularity does not go hand in hand with great ability. In other words, the man hasn't really shown signs of greatness in the ring - at least not yet.

Of course, there's also the small fact that boxing plays its favorites and it may be hard to imagine Canelo ever losing to Khan on the judge's scorecards in Vegas. Since Khan likely can't knock Canelo out at 155, it simply might not seem likely that he can walk away with the win under any circumstances.

Unless, of course, he really takes Canelo to school, like Mayweather did. No, Scratch that. Canelo still got a draw from one of the judges after Floyd made an easy night of him. Khan might have to do an even BETTER job than Floyd did against Canelo if he were to somehow even hope to move the judge's needle in his favor.

What if he were to do that, though? What if Khan were to surprise the world by fighting Canelo so efficiently that the judges absolutely, positively could NOT rule against him out of fear of getting the CJ Ross treatment? What if, in an even greater surprise, Khan were simply to get the better of Canelo and the judges ruled fairly?

Hey, it's not ENTIRELY out of the realm of possibility, is it?

So, what happens if Khan finds himself being the toast of the fight world? Well, for one thing, Khan would have gone from laughing stock to hero in the amount of time it takes to go through hedge fund money on a boxing series. The world would surely be his.

What would he do, though? Rematch Canelo? Go back down to welterweight? What if he were to stay at middleweight? Would he keep GGG at bay? Some would argue Khan is fine with keeping big fights from happening if they don't suit him. Just ask Kell Brook supporters. Will a new mega-bout be in order (between Khan and GGG) or will a planned mega bout (between Canelo and GGG) simply have died because of Canelo's insistence on marinating things to death, in the process leaving fans with nothing?

I find these questions fascinating. I may be getting ahead of myself here, of course. Then again...