Khan has been fighting at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds but will move two notches up his fighting limit to face Alvarez. But instead of fighting at the middleweight limit of 160, they both agree to face each other at 155.
The weight jump could be disadvantageous to Khan as it would be his first to fight at that contracted weight while Alvarez has been comfortable in the middleweight limit.
On the weight disparity, De la Hoya downplayed insinuation of a mismatch saying he had been in a similar situation when he fought Manny Pacquiao, who was almost three notches away from his fighting weight in a fight that resulted in his retirement from boxing.
“When we were making this fight, it came to my mind when I fought Pacquiao, people were saying that Pacquiao was too small for me, that I would beat him easy, that Pacquiao had no chance and many more things, the critics were labeling my fight with Manny as a mismatch and you saw what happened, Pacquiao destroyed me, so I know Canelo has to be at 100 percent, Khan is a tall fighter, he is a big guy so I don’t think the weight will be a factor.” De la Hoya told Fightnews.com.
Khan has been inactive since his unanimous decision win against Chris Algieri in May 2015. After the Algieri fight, the British Olympic silver medalist has been pursuing a lucrative fight against Floyd Mayweather but he was junked twice in favor of Marcos Maidana.
After the Maidana fight Mayweather dumped Khan for the third time and picked Manny Pacquiao for his pre-retirement fight.
Alvarez is coming off a unanimous decision win against Miguel Cotto last November and has been on a four-fight winning streak since his lone career loss to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in 2013.
