Amir Khan on the one thing he cannot do against Terence Crawford

Khan challenges a pound-for-pound great as he looks for greatness once more

Amir Khan has admitted that he cannot afford to switch off in the same way he did against Samuel Vargas when he takes on Terence Crawford later this month.

The former world champion was dropped by Vargas in what should have been a simple routine victory, but was made to work harder than he’d have hoped for to secure his points win – and ahead of his fight against Crawford, acknowledged he cannot do the same in his next bout.

Crawford comes into the fight as a three-weight world champion and with a perfect record, knocking out 25 opponents from his 34 fights, making him one of the modern greats of the sport.

Despite Khan’s claims that Crawford’s list of previous opponents is not impressive, he acknowledged the danger of the man he is set to take on at the infamous Madison Square Garden.

“That’s the only time I really lost focus in the fight,” Khan explained to BoxingScene.com.

“In the fight, I put him down and I was winning the fight quite easily. And, you know, you take your eye off the game, I stood still and he caught me with a good shot over the top and put me down. Sometimes you lose that focus and things like that can happen.

“I know that against a guy like Crawford I can’t lose my focus one bit because he’s really dangerous, he can hurt me and he can beat me. So, I’m never gonna do that.

“I’ll be more switched on against Crawford, knowing that it’s a big fight and there’s a lot on the table.”

Having suffered four career defeats, one to a drug cheat in Lamont Peterson another against the biggest star of the sport in Canelo Alvarez – Khan believes that this is only the second time he goes into the ring as the underdog.

A position that motivates his will to win and prove critics wrong.

“I think the last two fights were just to get me geared up for these big fights.

“I need to motivate myself for a fight like this, whereas the last two fights I had it’s hard to motivate yourself against guys that you know that you’re supposed to go in and win against. So, you make a mistake and people put you down.

Khan was dropped by Vargas en route to his UD win back in September (Getty)

“I mean, I think this is a fight that I am the underdog. Other than this fight, I think the only other fight was against Canelo when I was the underdog. He was way too big and way too strong. But the other fights I’ve lost, I’ve always been the favourite.

“That does put a lot of pressure on you. But at the same time, you do take your mind off the game a little bit.”