Canelo vs. Amir Khan (Photo : Boxing Promo)
Amir Khan is oozing with confidence less than two months before his May 7 showdown with middleweight kingpin Saul Canelo Alvarez at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In an interview with Sky Sports, the Bolton native and former Olympian talked about how monumental it would be for his career if he snags the WBC and Ring Magazine middleweight championship belts.
And Although he concedes that he will be entering to the ring as the underdog, Khan firmly believes he has the tools to withstand a juggernaut of an opponent like Canelo.
Khan applying the Sugar Ray technique
One of the reasons that made Khan pushed for this fight to happen apparently was Sugar Ray Leonard's victory over a much bigger middleweight champ in Marven Hagler in 1987.
Leonard, then a welterweight champ, moved up to middleweight to face its undisputed king in Hagler. With his incredible footwork and blinding hand speed, Sugar Ray scored a split decision win to become the pound-for-pound king at that time.
The 29-year old Khan said that he's going to apply the same philosophy and ring technique Leonard did that night to Canelo by boxing smart and beating him up with barrage of combinations.
"I know it can happen, because we've seen it happen in the past, when Sugar Ray Leonard took on Marvin Hagler," said Khan. "He was in a very similar position to me, where people were saying he was going to get beaten up, get knocked out and get hurt."
"He was going up two weight divisions and he went in there and beat Marvin Hagler. Sugar Ray Leonard was a great, great fighter but I really believe this is going to take me up to another level."
Khan (31-2 with 19 KOS) has waited almost four years to book a fight in this magnitude. With Floyd Mayweather officially retired and Manny Pacquiao down to his last fight with Tim Bradley this April, the floodgate of opportunity has opened up for fighters like Khan to stake their claim as the sport's next big attraction.
