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Canelo Alvarez's punch is like being 'hit with a baseball bat', says British legend

King Khan has compared the punching power from Canelo as the equivalent to being ‘hit with a baseball bat’.

Amir Khan attempted to make history in 2016 by jumping up two weight classes to challenge Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez for the WBC middleweight title at a catchweight of 155-pounds.

The British legend won the first three rounds and was outboxing Canelo before getting knocked out in brutal fashion in the sixth round.

It was the first boxing fight to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Today, Canelo is boxing’s Pound for Pound No.1 with victories over Gennadiy Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev to become Mexico’s first four-division champion above 147-pounds.

However, Khan - who has since gone on to challenge Terence Crawford for the welterweight world title in 2019 - reflected on his brutal defeat and claimed the selection of gloves for the fight had huge ramifications.

Khan told FightHype: "Every glove is different. When I fought Canelo, he had the Everlast horsehair gloves on.

"When I put my hand in, it was like pushing to the wall, but you’re going to damage your hand as well.
“They were solid. It was like being hit with a baseball bat. The foam padding ones, the shape always stays the same. With the horsehair, it fades more towards the back of the hand.
"So that way, your knuckles are more visible. Without padding in the way, that’s going to put more pressure on your knuckle. So you’re going to be hit with a bare hand.
“I could never do that because my hands aren’t strong enough to do that. I’d break my hand if I fought like that. Some fighters have the hands where they could punch through a wall and wouldn’t break their hands."

Khan, 34, is hoping boxing commissions alongside governing bodies can come to an agreement on the type of gloves used in a boxing ring.

He explained: “When you’re fighting someone, and you know they’re wearing a certain glove, you know what their game plan is.
"You’ve got guys that aren’t really punchers, and they’re going to wear the smaller Reyes gloves. You think this guy is going to try and knock you out. I’m going to have to be smart in this fight and be prepared.
“Then you’ve got Canelo, who is wearing the MX gloves, and they’ve got nothing in them. I knew that he was just looking for that one big shot. You know the mentality from the type of gloves they’re wearing."

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