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David Haye: Amir Khan is bigger than Canelo, size won't matter

David Haye has some bold thoughts on the Canelo-Khan fight.

On the size difference between Amir Khan and Canelo Alvarez

"A lot of people out there are fearing for his health. A lot of people believe that he will be knocked out. He's been knocked out three weight divisions below this, so they feel he's got no chance. Canelo Alvarez is the lineal, RING Magazine, WBC champion, so (Khan) has got no chance. No chance at all.

"A lot of people are dismissing him, a lot of people feel it's a mismatch, but I'm of the complete opposite opinion. I believe this fight is going to cement his legacy as one fo the greatest fighters of our generation, because he's such an underdog, because he's not a world champion currently, but he's going to go up and fight a champion at his weight.

"This is an astounding feat if he can pull it off, and I believe he can. I believe he's got the foot and hand speed, and I don't think the weight difference is going to be an issue. At all. I've been up close to both of them, I've grabbed both of their arms. Amir seems, to me, to be bigger. He's definitely taller. He seems wider. Maybe Canelo's got thick legs or a big ass or something, but I didn't see where the two weight difference is, I didn't see it. And I'm quite good at checking peoples weights, I'm a professional boxer my whole life. I'm used to seeing fighters. They seemed similar size. If anything, Amir seems bigger.

"But on paper, Amir's going up two divisions. In my mind, he's been coming down two divisions. He's naturally a middleweight. Actually over middleweight. If there were no weight divisions, if you just fight whatever weight you wanted to fight at, I think he'd be a middleweight. If you've ever met Amir Khan, he's a big, thick, strong guy. Wide shoulders. I remember seeing him at light welterweight, he was gaunt, his face, he looked like a skeleton. Very, very gaunt.

"Now, I see him and he weighs probably, he's probably about 165, 166 pounds now, and he's been training for a while. This guy doesn't sound like a welterweight to me, he sounds like a middleweight, light middleweight. I'm not buying into 'he's too small.' No way about it. No way, shape, or form. As long as he can box to orders, as long as Virgil Hunter comes with a solid plan -- which I know he does, a very good coach, one of the best in the world, I know this is a chance to shock the world."

On how big of an upset it would be

"I'm not just saying this because he's my pal, but this probably would be the biggest one. I can't think of a fight where the fighter hasn't been the champion, has gone up two weight divisions, and fought not just a champion, not just a guy with a title he won. He beat Cotto, who beat Martinez -- he beat the man who beat the man who beat the man. This is the lineal champion. To go to foreign territory in Vegas, Canelo's based himself in Vegas, to do that, this would be probably the biggest upset in boxing history. Particularly for a British fighter. It does not get better than this.

"When Ricky Hatton fought Kostya Tszyu, that was in Manchester, and they were the same weight. He's fighting someone two weights above, on foreign territory, and he's not even a champion himself. It doesn't get any bigger than that.

"People need to give Khan the credit and realize what he's going to do. What I don't want to hear is after the fight, blah blah blah. Diminishing his achievements. I want people to recognize now and say now, if he does it, how great it would be. Now that the fight's nine weeks away, everybody say right now how great an achievement it would be. I don't want to hear, oh, blah blah blah, it was a catchweight, or this. I don't want to hear that. People need to acknowledge now and stick with that after the fight.

"Floyd Mayweather's best win on paper is Canelo Alvarez. That's his best win after 49 fights! What happens when Amir Khan beats the same guy? OK, then he's equal -- it doesn't undo the losses he's had, but it puts him into a category into the super elite. That would put him, I believe, No. 1 pound-for-pound. For sure."

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