Hall of Famers Freddie Roach and Oscar De La Hoya gave their take on the upcoming World Boxing Council middleweight title fight between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Amir Khan on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Roach, who is familiar with both fighters, said that Khan made a questionable decision. The Hall of Fame trainer said that Khan should have picked Kell Brook instead of Alvarez because the latter will be a tough opponent for the former world champion.

Roach, who trained Khan before and handled Miguel Cotto during his bout against Alvarez, said that Khan needs to have a perfect night to have a chance against the reigning WBC middleweight champion.

"He's got to pitch a perfect game," Roach told BoxingScene.

Khan, who owns a 31-3-0 record with 19 of his victories coming by knockout, was recently linked to a showdown with Brook. Roach believes that Khan should have decided to take on Brook, who is the reigning International Boxing Federation welterweight champion.

"Kell Brook's a good opponent but he's not as good as the opponent that he picked," Roach said of Khan's decision to face Alvarez. "I think he would've been better off fighting Kell Brook, he'd be a bigger star in his home country and so forth. He wins this one, this will put him on the map world-wide."

Khan is coming off a convincing unanimous decision win against Chris Algieri, but the Bolton native will be moving up in weight after agreeing to a catchweight of 155 pounds. The 29-year-old Briton has not fought above 147 pounds in his career, which makes most analysts believe that Canelo will have a walk in the park.

However, De La Hoya is confident that fans will love the matchup. The Golden Boy Promotions president said that the fight reminds of him of his bout against Manny Pacquiao before. De La Hoya was picked as favorite because of his huge size advantage, but Pacquiao managed to score an eighth-round stoppage win in 2008.

"The first thing that comes to mind is when I fought Pacquiao," De La Hoya told ESPN Deportes, via BoxingScene. "Everyone said that it was going to be easy fight for me. Pacquiao was very small, and obviously we know what happened. He won easy."

De La Hoya said that Khan could pull of an upset if he will utilize his speed advantage properly. Like during his fight against Pacquiao, De La Hoya expects the bigger Alvarez to have a difficult time dealing with Khan's speed.

Related