Amir Khan: My fight against Saul Alvarez is more attention-grabbing than Mayweather v Pacquiao

Amir Khan thinks his upcoming fight against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez could be bigger than Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquaio. The British fighter recently agreed to a career-shaping bout against the highly-rated Mexican in Las Vegas on 7 May, despite Canelo boasting a significant size advantage.

Khan has claimed the reaction to his fight outstrips that which greeted the announcement of a long-awaited bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao, which was held in Las Vegas in May last year. The event was the highest-grossing pay-per-view fight in history.

"I believe this fight between Canelo and I is getting more attention than a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight," Khan told Ring TV. "The hype for this fight has just been unexpected. No one knew of this fight taking place or of any negotiations taking place. When the fight was announced, no one knew how to react to this fight or to even believe it was happening.

"People around the boxing world are saying Amir Khan has some balls going up in weight. It's nice to catch fans by surprise with a fight of this magnitude."

The much-discussed bout has been made at a contracted weight of 155lbs. But many boxing experts are shocked to learn that Khan has not insisted on a rehydration clause, which would have stopped Canelo from outweighing the Brit by a sizeable margin on the night of the fight.

"I don't think it's a great move for Khan in having the fight at 155," boxing promoter Eddie Hearn recently told IFL TV. "Canelo is probably going to be 175 on the night. I think Amir once weighed 160 coming into the arena for the Devon Alexander fight.

"Khan is not a big welterweight, and Canelo is a big light middleweight. Actually, I think he's a middleweight now. He's boxed for a number of years at light middleweight, but I think he's now a middleweight.

"I think at 155, he [Canelo] must be loving life, and there's no rehydration clause, which is mad. That's the biggest thing."