clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Oscar De La Hoya: Amir Khan is sometimes too brave for his own good

Oscar De La Hoya discusses Amir Khan's chances and Saturday's matchup with Canelo Alvarez.

On Amir Khan getting the fight

"It's long overdue. Amir Khan has been waiting for a big fight his entire career. He deserves a mega fight and it's finally gonna happen May 7th. Look, Manny Pacquiao didn't want to fight him. Floyd Mayweather didn't want to fight Amir Khan. So now he's fighting the biggest superstar in boxing today in Canelo Alvarez. It's very well deserved. Amir has the pedigree to go out there and put on a great show."

On Oscar's excitement

"This is a classic matchup of speed versus power. If you take a look at the history of boxing, you take a look at Sugar Ray Leonard versus Marvelous Marvin Hagler. There's several fights out there that come to mind, but that one in particular stands out to me, because it was the fighter in Sugar Ray Leonard who was coming up in weight, he had no chance whatsoever against Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and we all saw what happened there. He put on a tremendous show and it created an exciting fight. When you have speed, when you have power, that's exactly what it does, it creates this type of fight that has the ingredients to become one of those great fights that you don't want to miss."

On the matchup between Canelo and Khan

"One fighter's gonna have to use a perfect game plan. Has to stay focused, has to use his range, and that's Amir Khan. He's a fighter who throws a lot of combinations. He's a fast fighter, he has great footwork. But one thing about Amir Khan is he's sometimes a little too brave for his own good. People might say that that's been his Achilles' heel. That's been his downfall in some of the fights he's been involved in, like for instance, Maidana comes to mind. Amir Khan can use his boxing ability, stay outside, move side to side, and win the fight easily. But he chooses to stay in the pocket, brawl with him, and try to knock him out. That's when he gets in trouble. He got caught with Maidana in that fight. It's a matter of making sure that Amir just stays focused and I think we're gonna get a wonderful fight."

On why fans should buy the PPV

"Not only for the main event, obviously it's gonna be a terrific, terrific fight, but top to bottom, it's gonna be a tremendous, tremendous card. People are gonna love it."

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Bad Left Hook Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of all your global boxing news from Bad Left Hook