Amir Khan: 'I can beat Canelo Alvarez’

Amir Khan, while lacking in size, has enough confidence that he will emerge victorious when he meets his next opponent Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 7 in Las Vegas, where the latter will seek to defend his WBC middleweight title.

Khan is up for one of the toughest fights in his boxing career, climbing two notches up in the divisional weight class to meet Alvarez at a catchweight of 155 pounds. However, despite the gap in size, the Bolton welterweight says he “can beat” the Mexican champ come fight night.

"If you think about the fight: stylistically it has the makings for a great fight,” Khan said in his Q&A with The Ring. “I honestly believe I can beat this guy. Everybody acts like he's an unstoppable machine and are afraid to fight him. I am not scared to fight him and I am not going to go in there with respect.”

Khan has not been in the boxing ring with someone as huge as Alvarez, who can rehydrate to more than 170 pounds during fight nights. In the 2016 Saul Canelo vs Amir Khan bout, the Bolton welterweight is agreeing to fight Alvarez at 155 but there is no rehydration clause that limits how much weight the Mexican redhead could gain on their HBO pay-per-view fight. According to Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn, this could spell doom for Khan.

“I don’t think it’s a great move for Khan in having the fight at 155,” Hearn told iFL TV. “Amir might cause him some problems early on, but I can’t see him winning the fight.”

But despite the talks about Khan compromising his weight for the Canelo vs Khan bout, the WBC has backed both fighters' agreement, saying that any weight lower than 160 pounds is official and within the rules of the governing body.