Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Amir Khan will meet May 7th on HBO PPV with the middleweight title up for grabs in a catch weight of 155lbs—one pound over the junior middleweight limit. That has been known since it was announced weeks ago, but the location and venue were never finalized, although there were strong implications that it would happen at the new arena in Las Vegas.
Now, it is official as it was announced that Canelo-Khan will take place at the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The MGM Resorts International-owned arena will open its doors a month before the Cinco de Mayo showdown, in April.
“The new T-Mobile Arena was clearly the perfect venue choice to host the battle that will be Canelo vs. Khan on May 7,” said Golden Boy Promotions Chairman and CEO, Oscar De La Hoya. “Boxing in Las Vegas is truly an exciting event, and the fans with tickets to the fight will be in for a treat watching the fight in this new, state-of-the-art venue.”
Located west of the Las Vegas Strip between New York-New York and Monte Carlo, T-Mobile Arena is expected to host more than 100 events annually including UFC, boxing, hockey, basketball and other sporting events, major headline entertainment, awards shows, family shows and special events.
It was always assumed that Floyd Mayweather Jr. would christen the arena, but he will have been retired 8 months by the time the arena’s first of many major boxing events takes place.
Regardless, this is a perfect fight to test the venue’s capacity. Canelo is the biggest star in boxing and Khan has always had a significant name in the sport, but we will now see how much he can draw in a prime “B-side” position.
