Why Amir Khan vs. Devon Alexander Could Be the Most Boring Fight of the Year
Amir Khan, recently turned 28, is in action for only the second time in 2014 as he faces American contender Devon Alexander, 27, over 12 rounds in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Both of these fighters are generally ranked at the back end of the top 10 in the ultra-competitive welterweight division, which is still presided over by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Khan, 29-3, would like to land a big fight against one of those men and faces two major risks here. First, that the athletic but undynamic Alexander, 26-2, gets it together and beats him. Second, that the Englishman wins in such a tedious fashion that there is no clamour to see him headline in Vegas again any time soon.
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It is Khan's second fight at the full 147-pound limit after May's comfortable points win over the 33-year-old one-time champion Luis Collazo, a fight in which he scored two knock-downs.
That came on the Mayweather-Marcos Maidana undercard, after Khan was passed over in the main event for the aggressive Argentinian and despite having beaten him in 2010. The former Olympian was then unavailable for September due to Ramadan when Mayweather and Maidana put on a tepid rematch.
The Collazo fight seemed a strange choice for Khan in that he ran the risk of being knocked out—Collazo had just done exactly that to Victor Ortiz—but victory would not be significant enough to force a major fight.
Again, the matchmaking this time is not great for "King" Khan. Alexander is a potentially tricky opponent, and yet, having lost the IBF welterweight title to Shawn Porter a year ago—who in turn lost it to Kell Brook—he is some way down the pecking order.
The fight is generally expected to be competitive but with Khan a clear betting favourite to win, probably on points with scorecards around 116-112 to 117-111.
Because he was stopped in disastrous and memorable fashion by Breidis Prescott and Danny Garcia, Khan's opponents are usually thought more likely to beat him by KO than points, but, unusually, that is not the case with Alexander.
That is because the American is not much of a puncher with just 14 KOs from 26 wins. Indeed, his only impressive stoppage wins, over the ageing duo of Junior Witter and Juan Urango, came nearly five years ago in the light-welterweight division.
Khan is seen as being the slightly faster and more accurate fighter, which should carry him home, perhaps best evidenced by his dominant win over the underrated Ukrainian fighter Andriy Kotelnik, an opponent against whom Alexander struggled in his home-town and was lucky to get the decision over.
However, Alexander has never been stopped or seriously hurt, even in the two fights he lost on judges' verdicts—in 2011 against Timothy Bradley and in 2013 against Porter.
It would be a serious statement of intent if Khan could stop the St. Louis fighter and would demonstrate that he is a puncher at welterweight, but it is difficult to envisage.
Khan needs to put on a good show so that fans desire a fight between him and Mayweather. However, Alexander is probably the worst possible opponent for that purpose, other than the risk factor of someone like Keith Thurman knocking him out.
Like Khan, Alexander was a distinguished amateur and is a fairly tall welterweight with decent reach and fast hands. Thus he is likely to neutralise some of Khan's best attributes and make him look more ordinary than usual.
There is a great risk that this turns into a stinker of a contest because both guys like to throw fast combinations from distance and then get out of range. Neither of them can fight up close and both are eager to clinch on the inside to paper over that frailty.
Khan probably doesn't have the power to stop Alexander while Alexander probably doesn't have the power to stop Khan, which removes tension and interest from the proceedings.
Then you can factor in the traditional awkwardness and lack of rhythm that occurs in orthodox versus southpaw match-ups, because Alexander boxes left-handed.
You can see the fight involving them both throwing pitty-patty shots from slightly too far away before one of them overbalances and then ties up the other as a defensive manoeuvre. Not a lot of genuine power shots thrown, not a lot landing, full stop. For 12 rounds.
British welterweights Frankie Gavin and Bradley Skeete put on a predictably dull affair two weeks ago in London, and yet even that did not eclipse Mickey Bey versus Miguel Vasquez on the September Mayweather undercard as the year's most boring fight.
At least those two distance affairs were not headlining their respective bills. Given the attention and expectation around Khan, this fight could easily find itself remembered as the year's worst encounter if it goes to the script outlined above.
That could seriously jeopardise Khan's chance of fighting Mayweather. It was, after all, Maidana's dramatic and colourful win over Adrien Broner that got him to the front of the queue to face the money man.
It is now in Khan's favour that Mayweather, affiliated with Golden Boy Promotions, broadcaster Showtime and advisor Al Haymon, is running out of viable opponents. But then so is Pacquiao, affiliated with Top Rank and HBO, leading some to think a showdown between the two could finally be negotiated.
Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez, two possible Mayweather opponents, both of whom he has already beaten, look likely to fight each other in May.
Light-welterweight champion Danny Garcia has done little to advance his cause in 2014, winning unconvincingly against Mauricio Herrera before a short and pointless victory over the unfortunate Rod Salka. He would also likely want a warm-up fight at 147 before facing Floyd.
Just this week Bleacher Report's Briggs Seekins ranked Khan the second most likely to face Mayweather next, eclipsed only by Pacquiao, and perhaps more in hope than expectation of that mega-fight actually coming together.
That is how close Khan is to realising his dream—and why it's so important the Alexander fight is not as boring as it could well be.
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