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Haye & Froch not in my league - Khan

Amir Khan has taken a swipe at David Haye, the deposed WBA heavyweight champion © Getty Images

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Amir Khan has taken a swipe at his rival British boxers, claiming that the likes of Carl Froch and David Haye are not in the same league as him.

Khan has made four defences of his WBA light-welterweight title since winning it from Andriy Kotelnik in December 2009, but his claim is sure to raise eyebrows, particularly when levelled at Carl Froch who has, on paper, fought a higher level of opposition than Khan.

And although David Haye was schooled by Wladimir Klitschko in his sternest examination so far, earlier in his career he was crowned the unified cruiserweight champion.

While Marcos Maidana was unquestionably a fearsome opponent, the likes of Paul Malignaggi and Paul McCloskey were never expected to pose much of a test to Khan.

"Pound-for pound, I'm way ahead of all the other British fighters, and I think people know that," Khan told BBC Sport. "[US broadcaster] HBO think I'm the best British fighter, the most skilful and the most exciting to watch."

Khan is preparing to fight Zab Judah in Las Vegas this weekend and, although he is making plans for the future, he has ruled out a future bout with unbeaten British welterweight Kell Brook - despite the fact they have traded insults on Twitter.

"If that fight ever got made I'd knock him out," said Khan. "I used to spar with him in the amateurs and I played with him, I know what the guy is all about.

"He hasn't fought anyone at their peak - N'dou was 39 and he took him the distance. I would have knocked N'dou out in less than five rounds.

"He's a good fighter but he needs to step it up if he wants to meet me one day in the future. I'm not giving him an easy pay-day, if he wants to fight me he has to go in with a big-name fighter so that he brings something to the table.

"But to be honest with you I'd never want to fight him if Barry Hearn is going to be involved in promoting him - they were very unprofessional in the McCloskey fight and Hearn started crying in the ring because I beat one of his fighters.

"If I beat Kell Brook he's going to start crying again and if he [Brook] wants to fight me he needs to go out on his own or get with a different promotional team.

"I fight dangerous opponents and you've got guys like Kell Brook fighting guys who haven't even got a 10% chance of winning the fight - that says it all."

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