British superstar Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) admits that he was "desperate" for a huge fight when he accepted the opportunity to move up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds to challenge then WBC middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez back in May of 2016.
Khan used his speed and boxing ability to take an early lead, but he was knocked out cold with a huge shot in the sixth round, before a packed crowd at the first ever boxing event to be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Khan will return to the ring, after nearly two years, this coming Saturday night when he faces Phil Lo Greco at Echo Arena in Liverpool.
For several years, Khan has been pursuing huge money fights with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
And year after year, he was rejected or strung along for months.
So when the opportunity came up to fight Canelo, in the main event of an HBO Pay-Per-View card, Khan jumped on the opportunity.
"There's fights I've wanted, like for example the Floyd Mayweather fight - that was talked about for years and years, and didn't happen. The Manny Pacquiao fight, which was talked about and didn't happen, so you do kind of fall out of love [with boxing]. The reason I took the 'Canelo' fight is because I got quite desperate," Khan told Sky Sports.
"I really wanted a big super fight and I wanted my name up on the Vegas strip. It's always been my dream. The Mayweather fight got so close many times, which never seemed to happen. Should I have taken that fight? Maybe not. It was a massive opportunity for me. I don't regret it no.
After that contest, Khan got an operation to heal a lingering injury to his hand - and now he believes that he's better than ever.
"My hand was always bad. I was quite scared to get it operated on. After the Canelo fight, is when I decided to get it fixed properly. It took me a little bit longer to recover from the hand op than it should have," Khan said.
2023-10-20 20:12:29
