In May 2016, British boxing star Amir Khan went into the ring against Mexican fighter Cancelo Alvarez in a fight that Khan wishes he had never gone into.

Amir Khan has 4 losses in his professional career as a boxer, but the fight against Alvarez hurts just a bit more than any other loss.

In the 6th round, Alvarez landed a hardy right-hand swing to knock Amir to the floor, where he remained, to give the Mexican the blockbuster KO victory.

Since suffering that defeat, Khan is yet to return to the ring and has only recently announced his comeback fight.

Nevertheless, in an interview with Boxing News Online the 31-year-old has admitted he regrets taking on the challenge of Alvarez.

“Yeah, I do,” he sighed. “Honestly, it’s a fight I should never have gone into because he was physically too big. I had my chances, I thought I could outbox him and be smart and not get hit but obviously he got me with a big shot."

“Before that, everything was going well but it’s boxing and you are going to get hit and you are going to get hit with big shots and he caught me with a tremendous overhand right that would have knocked most people out.

"But as an experience if I’d never taken that fight I would always have thought, ‘What would have happened?’ Now I’ve done it I can say I tried it, it didn’t work for me and that’s not going to happen again – where I move up in weight and make the same mistake.”

There is certainly no shame in losing to Canelo. The 27-year-old has suffered just one loss from 52 professional fights and that came against Floyd Mayweather.

However, Khan must put all of that out of his mind when he takes on Canadian Phil Lo Greco at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on April 21, live on Sky Sports.

After such a long time away from the sport, it will be interesting to see the Brit return to the ring and how he fares against an opponent he will be heavily expected to beat.