• Boxing news

McCloskey display will prove I'm world's best - Khan

Amir Khan believes he has erased any possibility Paul McCloskey could beat him with his great training © PA Photos

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Khan reeling after pay-per-view snub
  
• News: McCloskey warns Khan over Pacquiao sparring
  
• News: Khan always makes same mistakes - Bradley
  
• Profile: Amir Khan

Amir Khan believes there is no chance of anything going wrong for him in the ring when he defends his WBA title against Paul McCloskey - and is confident he will prove himself the best light-welterweight in the world with the manner of his victory.

Khan will face the undefeated McCloskey in Manchester on April 16, as he defends the title he last retained against Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas in December. Khan is already eyeing a unification fight against WBC and WBO belt-holder Timothy Bradley for his next challenge, and believes he can send a message to the American with a big victory over his 31-year-old opponent.

"I want to prove to everyone how good Amir Khan is," Khan told the BBC. "Not only in England, but all over the world. So I want to beat McCloskey in better fashion than Bradley beat Devon Alexander [in January].

"I'm one step ahead of Bradley, even though he's rated one higher than me [by The Ring magazine] and he's unbeaten. That would be a good fight in the future, but first of all I've got McCloskey to take care of and I'm very focused on him."

Eager to avoid any possibility of complacency creeping in, the 24-year-old believes his deliberate preparation for the fight at the MEN Arena has erased any chance of him being defeated.

"It's always harder to keep hold of a world title and Paul McCloskey is going to be training very hard to beat me," said Khan. "But I'm not going to let him do that. I always train like a challenger and I'm not going to give anyone a chance.

"I know McCloskey's very awkward but we've been working with a lot of awkward opponents, I'm with the best trainer in the world [Freddie Roach] and I don't think anything can go wrong - I've got McCloskey's number.

"He'll be coming into the fight unbeaten and he's a European champion, but he's not ready for this level, it's too big a step.

"But I'll be treating him like another Maidana, as if he's just as dangerous, so that I don't make any mistakes. I'm going to need to be sharp and on the edge, you can never go into a fight thinking it's going to be easy."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.