This is, in my view, the accurate answer. Today, Ali by KO and early. Prime Khan, before his skills deteriorated and he could compensate - somewhat - for that glass jaw, destroys this guy.
It is. Let's (perhaps generously, but for the sake of argument) assume Khan is in the same form as versus Canelo the night of the 155lb catchweight against Ali from last night, at 154lbs.
Too close to call for me. I wanna say Khan, but Ali's performance is so fresh in my head obviously, and his jab looked electric. The khan that fought Canelo, he still had his signature lazer show speed, but didn't look as fast or sharp as earlier in his career -- actually imo he looked noticeably slower, less sharp, seemed to have a more difficult time pulling the trigger than earlier in his career, and I don't know, it's just hard to articulate, but when he was younger and when he would let his hands go, it was a thing of beauty and the combinations flowed freely and sharp as a blade. His jab was electric, had snap. Not gonna lie, I'm a massive closet Khan fan -- of the fighter he was when he was younger. Different people score fights differently, appreciate and value different styles and skills, and just see the sport differently. A young Khan is about as aesthetically pleasing a style I've ever seen. His jab and combinations were unreal. The clinic he put on Judah -- holy s***. That said, I love Ali's style obviously too. I can't tell who's jab was faster or sharper at 154/155 but Ali as a fighter overall I think clearly is as he's in his prime or close to it and Khan was clearly on the slide, so that's..... Nah honestly, I for some reason hate typing this, but I think maybe it's Ali's jab. Prime Khan and prime Terry Norris are two of my favorite fighters all time, just beautiful and in a way how they fought spoke to me. The speed, sharpness, snap, precision..... Just looked like they would literally shred fighters apart -- and to some they did. Ali doesn't have that same affect on me for some reason. The shots those two threw and could unload, from single shots to multiple punch combinations, were beautiful to me. Like a Ray Allen jump shot and the release he had. So fast, fluid, precise....
I keep Googling their surnames together in order to see if this matchup has been discussed extensively or broken down analytically in threads on this or any other forums- and instead serendipitously coming across results pertaining to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Probably a totally obscure name to most Westerners but he's like a God amongst Punjabis (his native community), Sufis, and upper middle class crunchy-granola types of a certain age that are into world music (you know, "Whole Foods liberals"). He was a hip guy to name-drop amongst 90s alt rockers for a time, much the same way that Ravi Shankar was made fashionably cool by the Beatles obsession with him twenty years earlier. Jeff Buckley had a live album track entitled "Nusrat, He's My Elvis". Apropos of nothing really, just throwing his name out there and seeing if anybody else knows or remembers him and his insane vocal range.
Khan would do well early, but would soon lose focus and get knocked out. Khan always seems to find a way to lose a fight.................
Would be find a way to lose to Vargas? I could just as easily see that being a brutal KO loss or a shutout UD for Khan.
The weird Khan obsession on ESB will never go away I see.... Ali would stop Khan at this point without ANY doubt in my mind. Khan probably has little left in the tank, and his chin, which was always pathetic, is probably even more pathetic now.
Khan has never been any good at 147, he needs to go back down to 140 if possible, but I think he will have one more fight, that will be against you know....................it's no secret and it will be a good money fight still..............