Amir Khan believes he'll surprise Canelo Alvarez with power in upset victory

HAYWARD, Calif. - Simon Fathers shouts out instructions for one grueling workout after another.

He's here with Amir Khan at trainer Virgil Hunter's Boxing Gym on this morning in late March.

Three days a week, Khan concentrates on strength and conditioning workouts with Fathers in preparation for his middleweight challenge of Canelo Alvarez on Saturday (HBO PPV, 9 p.m. ET) at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Each boxer must focus on strength training in camp, but this is a little different.

The 29-year-old Brit is unexpectedly moving up to a catchweight of 155 pounds for the assignment. And that's after just three fights at 147 for the former 140-pound beltholder who debuted as a lightweight.

The goal is for Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) to pack on muscle rather than eat his way up, and to do so while maintaining speed. And it's paramount if he's going to pull off the major upset: Khan, for all the praise he receives for elite quickness in his hands, possess a weak chin. He's been knocked out twice, dropped by light punchers and hurt by others.

In just his last fight, Khan was wobbled by Chris Algieri, he of the eight career KOs in 24 fights.

So Khan performs unique workouts here at the East Bay gym for about 90 minutes in addition to sparring, roadwork and traditional boxing workouts. They rely on Kaiser machines, which use aromatic air pressure resistance, allowing the fighter to train with speed. It also allows for different spectrums of power and force.

What he won't do is touch any dumbbells.

"We're working at speed and lots of it and focusing on measuring his power every single rip," Fathers, who helped top NFL players such as Chandler Jones, Jadeveon Clowney and Golden Tate prepare for the draft combine, told Paste BN Sports.

Khan mimics punching with resistance grips from a split stance. He sprints on a machine with pressurized resistance, a punishing workout. And of course, plenty of core work.

But can Khan increase his power at a new weight? After all, if he's going to keep the bigger man off him, he must earn Canelo's respect with punches that faze the Mexican.

"I can confirm he's improved his power because we're getting visual outputs of it on the computer on the power display units," Fathers, 38, revealed. "Reports from the ring is he's still just as fast. If he's faster and he's got more the power, that's a pretty good combination any boxer would want."

Khan said he receives confidence from other fighters throughout history who were big underdogs moving up in weight. There was Sugar Ray Leonard, who moved up two weight classes and took the middleweight championship from Marvin Hagler in 1987.

Khan also pointed to Manny Pacquiao, who jumped from 140 to demolish Oscar De La Hoya and send him into retirement in 2008.

"These upsets happen and I really believe I have the skill and I have everything to win this fight," Khan told Paste BN Sports. "Otherwise I wouldn't take (the fight). I make good money fighting other people around the world. I would not be taking it if I was going to hurt myself or not win this fight."

De La Hoya, the brainchild of the fight, referenced his jump from '54 to '60 to challenge Bernard Hopkins and his own defeat to Pacquiao. Both times, Oscar was defeated by knockout.

"There's a lot of great matchups, and there's only a few pounds," the Hall of Famer, who promotes Canelo Alvarez under the Golden Boy banner, told Paste BN Sports. "You have to take chances in boxing if you want to be great. History shows that boxers have jumped up two, three, four weight classes to challenge the very best. People respect people that take chances."

Khan is certainly taking a big chance: he's about a 4-1 underdog to dethrone Canelo. Part of that is because Canelo is the naturally bigger man with the more imposing frame.

Another reason for the long odds? Canelo (46-1-1, 32 KOs) is one of the biggest punchers in the sport and a pound-for-pound fighter in his prime. The thinking goes that if Khan is going to win, it will be on points. If the 25-year-old is victorious, as expected, it will be by devastating knockout.

Whatever the outcoming, Khan promises he won't make any excuses about weight, but is confident he won't need them.

"Whoever I hit, I'm going to hurt them," Khan said. "Especially the shots they don't see. They're going to get hit with shots they're not going to see, so basically that's going to hurt them even more. But yeah, I think I'm going to surprise Canelo a lot once I'm in the ring with him.

"And he's going to be thinking twice and he's going to be thinking 'wow.'And he's going to be looking at Oscar asking 'Oscar, why did you get me this fight because this the biggest mistake you made.'"

(Photo of Canelo, left, and Khan by Tom Hogan/Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions)