‘Canelo Alvarez fight is a bigger challenge than Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao’, Amir Khan tells talkSPORT

Amir Khan believes his fight with Canelo Alvarez on May 7 is a more dangerous contest than any potential bout with Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao would have been.

The 29-year-old is moving up from lightweight to challenge for Alvarez’s WBC middleweight belt and because of the weight difference, Khan said it is a riskier route.

“Canelo is known as a very dangerous guy that not a lot of people want to fight and a lot of people avoid so I’m the one guy that said ‘I’ll fight him’,” the Bolton-born boxer told Kick Off.

“I could have taken an easier route - if I did take a fight against [Floyd] Mayweather or [Manny] Pacquiao I think it would have been an easier fight because of the weight.

“People are expecting me to walk in there and just get beat up but I don’t see it going that way.”

The bout also puts Khan in an unusual position as a he is considering the huge underdog with Alvarez being made a strong favourite among the bookmakers.

However, this is not a tag that bothers the Briton who believes it will just push him that much harder to prove all the doubters wrong.

“I’ve fought for world titles and always been the favourite to win,” Khan continued.

“This is the first time I’m going into a fight being the underdog and I think it gives me the extra drive, that extra push.

“I’m doing this for the UK fans, my fan base around the world who want to see me in big and hard fights. I want to give that excitement to them and people don’t know what to expect because they think I’m going to come into the fight weak.

“But I don’t think I’ll come into the fight weak, I’ll be very smart.

“I’ll be nice and strong at this weight and the game plan they’ll give me, I’ll stick to that and that is what’s going to get me through this fight.”