• Light-welterweight

Barrera still craves Khan clash

Marco Antonio Barrera upset the odds to beat Naseem Hamed in 2001 © Getty Images

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Former three-division world champion Marco Antonio Barrera feels he has unfinished business with Amir Khan, and still hopes to face the Brit again at some stage.

In his second fight after being blitzed by Breidis Prescott inside a round, Khan secured a notable victory over Barrera, and went on to win the WBA light-welterweight crown in his subsequent contest.

However, the triumph against Barrera was a controversial one: the two fighters clashed heads in the first round, which opened up a cut on Barrera severe enough for the fight to be stopped in the fifth round. Khan, ahead on all the judges' scorecards, was declared the winner via technical decision. Don King, Barrera's promoter, filed a complaint against the verdict.

Barrera has made two appearances since then, the last of which came in February 2011, but still feels he has what it takes to teach Khan a lesson. And he claims Khan is a hypocrite for not giving him a rematch, considering the Bolton fighter's protests in the wake of his loss to Lamont Peterson last year.

"I feel very sad that I fought Amir Khan with the cut and I want one more fight to prove who I am," Barrera told Sky Sports. "Amir Khan never fought with me - he only hit me with his head. He just needed my name but he never fought with me.

"I don't think Khan can be a great champion. He looked good in the fight with Peterson, which was a tough fight, but he cries. In Manchester when he fought with me, the commission gave him a big present when he hit me with his head.

"When he hit me with his head, I felt very bad because I know all the people love this sport and I came to give the best of me. I don't like what happened in the fight. Maybe if he hadn't have hit me in the head, the story would have been different.

"If they stopped the fight, no contest should have been the decision. And there was no rematch - yet he demands one with Peterson. I would fight him again - not for Amir Khan, but for all the people here in England who want to know who Amir Khan is.

"He's very fast but he doesn't have a punch. He does have a head made of stone though! I respect him but he doesn't respect the people in England because he knows he didn't beat me at fighting."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.