By Edward Chaykovsky

Five years ago, Matthew Hatton felt what it was like to take punishment from Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. They fought each other for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title, at a catch-weight, with Hatton moving up from welterweight. Canelo dominated the fight with scores of 119-108 on all three cards.

The younger brother of Manchester icon Ricky Hatton believes Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs) will be too small to overtake Canelo.

Last Tuesday, a deal was announced for Khan to move up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds to challenge Canelo for the WBC middleweight world title on May 7th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Khan (33-3, 19KOs) feels his speed and skills will be enough to nullify Canelo's size advantage.

"He can cause Alvarez a lot of problems but my gut instinct is that Canelo is far too strong and powerful, even with the catchweight. I just can't see past that because Canelo will be too big and too powerful for Amir. When I fought Canelo I was also going up in weight and giving away natural size and Amir is going to have to do that as well," Hatton told Nick Parkinson.

"Alvarez is unbelievably physically strong. I wasn't on the level that Amir is on because he has the skills and speed and has been a world champion, but what I had was that I was durable and that was certainly the hardest I've ever been hit and it was a painful night for me."

Hatton remembers how a catch-weight blew up in his face on the night of the fight. Canelo rehydrates to over 170-pounds by the time he enters the ring. Hatton remembers that fact quite well, when reflects on how Canelo was considerably bigger once they faced off before the opening bell.

"I remember at the weigh-in with Canelo thinking I'm about the same size as him. But then when he turned up for the fight he was like Popeye who had just eaten his spinach, muscles bulging and a lot bigger. He was like a different man," Hatton said. "He's so thick set. The fight with Amir is made at a catch-weight, but God knows what weight Canelo will be on fight night. Amir will be giving a lot away.

"I think Amir will start the fight well, he has fantastic speed, but I think sooner or later as Canelo cuts the space down and starts landing the fight will be over. It might be that Amir is winning the rounds, but as soon as Canelo closes him down, it will be over."