By Radio Rahim
Former world champion Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) has some very big targets on his mind.
Khan is scheduled to return to the ring on April 21 against Phil Lo Greco at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
The fight will be the first for Khan in nearly two years. He was last seen in the ring back in May of 2016, when he moved up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds and suffered a brutal knockout at the hands of then WBC middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
At the moment, the welterweight division is fully loaded with talent.
Some of the players include IBF champion Errol Spence, WBA/WBC champion Keith Thurman, WBO champion Jeff Horn, Terence Crawford, Shawn Porter, Manny Pacquiao, Danny Garcia and several others.
Khan wants to make a statement in his return, to show his worth in the packed weight class.
"I'm not gonna say where I belong in the welterweight division. I'm going to let this next fight show where I belong in boxing. There is no point in saying that I belong here or I belong there, that I'm the best or not the best - in time you guys will see yourself," Khan explained to BoxingScene.com.
"I'm 31, I'm at the peak of my career now. I've done it many times before. I've had losses and came back. A lot of people will always put me down and say 'Amir is no good, he ain't got a chin.' But look at the last fight. Even though I got knocked out by Canelo who is a lot bigger and stronger than me, and who is a great fighter - he would have knocked out any welterweight with a shot like that.
"Also, I was doing so well boxing him before that and winning on the scorecards. I was boxing well, but it was one of those things where you get caught by a bigger guy. So I'm not gonna say where I belong in the welterweight division, I'm gonna let you guys tell me where I belong."
And Khan believes the two biggest players at the weight - Spence and Thurman - would be ideal fights.
He believes their styles match up very well to his - and revealed that he's very confident in his ability to contend with the southpaw style of Spence.
"I think Thurman beats [Spence], but I would love to fight Thurman myself - because Thurman with the style he's got would be an ideal fight for me. And also a fight with someone like Spence [would be ideal for me], because he's a southpaw and I have a 100% record against any southpaw. No southpaw has ever beaten me," Khan told BoxingScene.