Oscar De La Hoya's penchant for making biggest fights is why Canelo-Khan happened

As a fighter, Oscar De La Hoya never met an opponent he wouldn't fight. His list of ring foes reads like a Hall of Fame roster.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, Fernando Vargas, Arturo Gatti and Ike Quartey, to name a few.

De La Hoya wanted to be part of the best fights that could be made. That's why he retired with six losses. Losing mattered, of course, but not as much as lining up the best fights, which is why The Golden Boy was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible.

As a promoter, De La Hoya has always said his No. 1 priority is making the best fights happen, and he's pretty much stayed true to his word. He proved it last October by putting one of his top remaining fighters, David Lemieux, up against the destructive force that is Gennady Golovkin. Smart move? Probably not, since Lemieux was destroyed by Golovkin. But the point is that De La Hoya went for it and boxing was better for it. Give the fans what they want and they will come back. That's his mantra.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Golden Boy's meal ticket, Canelo Alvarez, the lineal middleweight champion, would fight Amir Khan for the title at 155 pounds on HBO pay-per-view. That announcement stunned the boxing world, which was expecting Canelo to take an easier touch, say a Gabe Rosado, in his lead-up to a potential fall showdown with Golovkin.

It was De La Hoya thinking outside the squared circle, as he is wont to do.

De La Hoya said Canelo-Khan on May 7 will be the first boxing event, if not the first sporting event, to christen the new 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which opens on the strip in April with several concerts.

CANELO, KHAN MATCHUP SET: For Cinco de Mayo weekend

My first thought was, that's great, a new arena with all the Vegas glitz and glamor that goes with it, but won't this be just another over-hyped mismatch? Khan, a welterweight who was fighting at 140 pounds not so long ago, simply seems too small for Canelo, who rehydrated to 175 pounds for his fight with Miguel Cotto, 20 pounds over their contracted weight. That's a big boy with big power and it proved to be too much for Cotto, as it did for James Kirkland last May.

But De La Hoya counters that Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) is big-boned and as tall as Canelo (46-1-1, 32 KOs), and so he can easily add another 7-8 pounds to his frame. "Amir Khan is the perfect fit. It will be an exciting fight. I've never seen Amir Khan in a dull fight," De La Hoya told Paste BN Sports.

"Yes, Khan is moving up a weight class, but I remember several years ago when a little Filipino moved up two weight classes to face me, and people laughed at him, and you all saw what happened there (Pacquiao won by 8th round TKO, sending De La Hoya into retirement)."

De La Hoya says that Khan's speed and Canelo's history against boxers could spell trouble for the champ. "This is going to be one of those fights where Canelo is going to have to bite down and go after him and therefore it's going to be an exciting fight," De La Hoya said.

Canelo Alvarez connects with a right uppercut on the jaw of James Kirkland last May 9. (AP Photo by Bob Levey)

Khan, 29, who won a silver medal in Athens at lightweight for Great Britain when he was 17, was once a part of Golden Boy's stable of fighters who made his name with that promotional company before signing with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions. Khan is one of many former GBP fighters managed by the powerful Haymon after former CEO Richard Schaefer left GBP in the midst of a legal battle.

Khan was trained by Freddie Roach earlier in his career but is now under the watchful eye of Virgil Hunter, who also trains undefeated light heavyweight Andre Ward. One of Khan's biggest liabilities in the past was his weak chin, but his defense has improved under Hunter, and his "whiskers" haven't been a point of contention recently.

On the other hand, "King" Khan has spent much of the last year unsuccessfully chasing a fight against Mayweather, and has not been active enough, fighting three times since April 2013. None of the three was a big puncher.

Khan has won five consecutive fights since losing consecutively to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, the latter by fourth-round knockout. None of those fights was anywhere near the level of Canelo, who has become perhaps the most popular and top-selling boxer since Mayweather's retirement.

Ironically, De La Hoya still has a $300 million lawsuit pending against Haymon for, in layman's terms, trying to monopolize the sport, and told the Los Angeles Times this pairing will change nothing about that lawsuit. It will still move forward.

De La Hoya said that this will be a 100% Golden Boy promotion - a fighter's manager cannot also be his promoter, as per the Muhammad Ali Act, thus Haymon has to farm out the promotion of all his fights - and De La Hoya did not deal directly with Haymon to make this fight, but with Khan's father, Shah. But he said, "This goes to show you that Golden Boy Promotions is willing to work with any promoter and that's exactly what we did."

Asked about the possibility of bringing Khan, who has a huge British fan base, back into the GBP fold at some point, De La Hoya said, "Well, we have a rematch clause, and let's put it this way: we're really looking forward to working with Amir Khan once again."

Read into that what you want, but Khan's failure to secure a big fight with PBC could eventually bring him back to Golden Boy, knowing that his old boss is always looking out for the blockbusters.

Whether Canelo-Khan becomes one of those "biggest fights" remains to be seen. On paper, it's speed vs. power, with both men more than willing to engage. Whether the size difference comes into play also remains t0 be seen.

We all saw how Mayweather easily handled Canelo's speed deficiency in 2013. But again, the point is De La Hoya was unafraid of putting his then 23-year old rising star up against the best fighter in the world.

Either way, it should be fun to find out who wins: speed or power.

"The one thing that worries me the most is obviously the speed," De La Hoya said. "(Khan) is a very explosive, fast fighter, and he loves to fight. He's not a runner.

"Canelo's been known to have a little speed problem, and Khan's been known to have a little chin problem. So I think it creates the perfect fight."

(Photo at top of Khan, right, landing a right hook against Luis Collazo in 2014, by Mark J. Rebilas, Paste BN Sports)