By Carlos Boogs

Former world champion Amir Khan (31-4, 19KOs) is very motivated to get back in the ring.

The last time Khan saw action was back in May on Cinco De Mayo weekend. He took a big gamble by moving up in weight, from 147 to a catch-weight of 155-pounds, in order to challenge Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez for the WBC middleweight title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Canelo was by far the bigger man in the ring. Khan did very well in the early rounds, but the Mexican superstar knocked him out in brutal fashion in the sixth after landing a monster shot to the jaw.

According to Khan, he broke his right hand in a fight 13 years ago and he's been dealing with pain ever since.

Since the loss to Canelo, Khan has undergone two operations to fix the issue with his hand. The last operation was a procedure where surgeons removed bone from Khan's hip and transplanted it into his hand.

Khan is targeting a ring return early next year. He is currently the WBC's mandatory challenger to welterweight champion Danny Garcia. Once Khan advises the sanctioning body of his full recovery, they plan to order the fight. In 2012, Khan was stopped by Garcia in the fourth round of their junior welterweight unification. He's been trying to get the rematch ever since.

"I suffered with pain in my right hand for 10 years. I waited and fought through it, as technology got better I decided to get it fixed," Khan said.

"The first operation I had on the right side of my hand, above my little finger didn't fully recover, therefore I went into to theatre for a second operation and took off more bone from my hips and fixed the problem with adding an extra screw."

"Already my hand feels amazing. I want to hit the punch bag but doctor has advised me to hold tight and wait for another four weeks. I'm itching to punch and use my new hand with 100% power."