Amir Khan is taking inspiration from some of the world's most decorated fighters as he prepares to step up two weight divisions to challenge WBC champion Saul Alvarez in what could be his defining fight.

Khan would join a small group of illustrious names including the great Roy Jones Jnr, Michael Spinks, Manny Pacquiao and others who, without so-called 'tune-up' fights, jumped up two divisions to secure significant wins that are widely considered their greatest.

In the same way Spinks and Pacquiao were major underdogs in their respective 1985 and 2008 fights against Larry Holmes and Oscar De La Hoya, few give Khan much chance of defeating Mexico's highly-rated 'Canelo' Alvarez in Las Vegas on Saturday.

The 29-year-old is driven by the fact such occasions made those fighters' careers and reputations, however, and speaking to Press Association Sport, he said: "The greatest fighters in the world, like (Jones Jnr, Spinks and Pacquiao), by winning the fights they did, became great names.

"Going into this fight with Canelo and winning this fight, in good style, definitely will get me to one of the best fighters in the world, and also a fighter that will also be remembered.

"I'm moving up two weight categories for the middleweight world title, and on paper, if someone just mentioned it to you, you'd be like 'no chance', but with the way I've been working hard, as an underdog fighter, I just want to prove people wrong, I just want to go in there and I want to win this fight, and I want it more than Canelo wants it, I want it really badly.

"I've never felt like this for any fight, I've worked so hard, and I want to make sure I don't make any mistakes.

"This is the fight that does it now. If you look back in the history books you have the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, they had fights like this to take them to that next level. I think that's the fight for me now.

"By me winning this fight, it will definitely take me up there, and be one of the biggest wins in boxing. It'll be a win that people will always remember."

When Khan lost for a second successive fight - the third of his professional career and also the second by knockout - against Danny Garcia in 2012, it seemed highly unlikely he would ever be involved in a fight of such magnitude.

He believes the example he has since set in rebuilding his career demonstrates that even heavy defeats need not be permanently damaging, and that other fightes should not be discouraged if the same happens to them.

"There are a lot of fighters who when they get beaten, find it hard to get back to the top again," Khan, who is four years older than Alvarez, added.

"For me it's happened twice before. Obviously when the (Breidis) Prescott fight happened I had to rebuild my whole career, and then I went on and won titles.

"The second time was when I lost to (Lamont) Peterson and Garcia, back-to-back, and now I'm back here, fighting in one of the biggest fights this year, and also against one of the best fighters out there.

"This is maybe a good message to send: it doesn't matter if you get beaten, it's always how you come back from defeat and how hard you train, there's always a way back.

"For me, I've proved that, not once, not twice, but three times, I've always come back stronger and on top again."