By Edward Chaykovsky
Amir Khan feels ready for the biggest fight of his career, when he challenges Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez for the WBC middleweight championship in Las Vegas on May 7.
Khan, a welterweight since 2014, will head up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds to challenge Canelo for his belt at the brand new T-Mobile Arena..
Canelo has a big advantage in size and strength, but Khan feels confident about his chances to win.
Khan feels his win over Canelo will be bigger than the victory Floyd Mayweather Jr. achieved over the Mexican star, because Mayweather made Canelo squeeze down to 152-pounds in 2013, while Khan is facing Canelo at 155 - where the boxer has spent his last four bouts.
Khan told Sky Sports News HQ: "It's going to be the first fight there [at the new stadium] and I'm looking forward to it because it is something new and it's time to make history.
"To move up a weight or two and fight a world champion, someone that everyone is going to say is going to walk through Amir Khan. I really believe that I have the chance to beat him and by beating someone like Alvarez it will definitely make me one of the best fighters in the world.
"When Mayweather fought Alvarez he got him down to 152lbs - a weight where he was struggling to make the fight weight - so the weight we are fighting at is giving him a couple of more pounds to feel comfortable."
Khan plans to study Mayweather's win over Canelo. Mayweather's movement and defense nullified Canelo's advantages in size and strength when they stepped in the ring. This time Canelo will have nearly two and half years of more experience and probably some new tricks up his sleeve.
"He is going to be a little bit stronger going into this fight against me, but watching how Floyd Mayweather beat him; Floyd boxed him, was smart and he moved well - he wasn't standing there with him," Khan said.
"Obviously I am going to pick a few things out of that fight. Alvarez looked really good in that fight, he was sharper, he was quicker. I have the hand speed, I have the great footwork so we know what to do. We are going to have a great gameplan. Virgil Hunter [Khan's trainer] here in San Francisco, we are going to set a gameplan to go into the fight and we are going to go in there and execute it."
