Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez looks to renew Mexican pride against England’s Amir Khan

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s trainer, Eddy Reynoso, is a boxing history buff who dutifully studies facts such as who’s fared better in Mexico-England matchups.

The result of Reynoso’s research is encouraging precedent for his fighter, who’s scheduled to face England’s Amir Khan on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Carlos Palomino’s 1976 technical knockout of John Stracey in a welterweight title fight was followed by bantamweight champion Lupe Pintor’s punishment of Johnny Owen in a 12th-round knockout at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Owen died of head trauma two days later.

In 1987, Jorge Baca defeated Lloyd Honeyghan by technical decision for a welterweight belt, and then Marco Antonio Barrera roughed up mouthy Brit Prince Naseem Hamed in 2001, slamming Hamed’s head to a turnbuckle for added effect. England’s Ricky Hatton gained a measure of revenge by beating Jose Luis Castillo and Juan Lazcano in junior-welterweight title fights.

So now comes 25-year-old World Boxing Council middleweight champion Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 knockouts), possessing a sizable natural weight advantage while making his first title defense against former junior-welterweight champion Khan (31-3, 19 knockouts).

The expectation is that Alvarez’s developing power will prove too much for Khan to take.

“I don’t know how his chin will be, but I’ll prepare myself very well and if my power hurts him in the chin, even better,” Alvarez told The Times in Spanish this week during an interview inside his training camp. “That’s an advantage for me, and I’m going to take advantage of any opportunity I see -- his chin, his body -- whatever I have to do to win.”

Reynoso is working to keep a tight focus, even though Khan’s big move up to the 155-pound catch-weight bout from his usual 147-pound welterweight limit will be a considerable challenge.

“Khan is fast and explosive. I hope to be able to say Saul’s improved in his defense and fighting ability and, of course, his counter-punching, cutting off the ring, moving his legs and waist,” Reynoso said. “Khan might come out bigger and stronger, but his style is the same. He won’t want to fight with Saul because of his power.”

Yet Reynoso doesn’t buy that Khan is overly suspect to a heavy punch -- a reputation that dates to his first-round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in 2008, and his 140-pound title knockout loss to Danny Garcia.

“I hear the rumors of the chin, but he’s lost very few times and any fighter hit on the chin could go down,” Reynoso said. “That doesn’t allow us to be overconfident. Look at Khan’s Marcos Maidana fight,” the 2010 fight of the year won by Khan. “Maidana’s very strong. He couldn’t take him out.”

The hope for Alvarez is to display the strides he’s made since a fast boxer named Floyd Mayweather Jr. picked him apart by majority decision in 2013.

“I’m a totally different fighter from three years ago,” Alvarez said. “I’m a more solid, complete, confident fighter.”

His assistant trainer, Chepo Reynoso, said, “Amir is fast, but so is Saul. He’s not a turtle.”

So, one fight after wresting the belt from experienced, four-division champion Miguel Cotto, Alvarez says he’s guarded against overconfidence versus the undersized Khan.

“I always train 100 percent,” Alvarez said. “If you don’t take an opponent serious, they surprise you.”

On the other side of the match-up, Khan surprisingly signed up to take a fight few thought was possible considering that his manager, Al Haymon, is being sued by Alvarez’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, for seeking to monopolize the sport with Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions operation.

Perhaps, Alvarez said he was told, Haymon is plotting to dethrone De La Hoya’s top fighter as part of his scheme.

“I’m not sure why they decided to do this, or what their game plan is,” Alvarez said. “I know I’m sure of winning May 7. That’s my job.”