AMIR Khan has shown he has lost none of his hunger since becoming world champion — by packing away a staggering 6,000 calories a day.

The WBA light-welterweight king defends his title against Dmitriy Salita at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena.

And Khan, pictured, has been put on an intensive high-protein diet ahead of tonight’s clash — scoffing up to five big meals a day.

The normal male daily consumption is around 2,000 calories — but the 22-year-old ace has been eating three times that a day — the equivalent of eight Big Macs or four large fish and chip suppers — for the last seven weeks as he bids to get in shape for New Yorker Salita.

And the Bolton star’s conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, admits it would be dangerous amount of food if he was not burning off so much energy in the ring. “It’s an awful lot of calories and a lot of stress on the kidneys and liver,” said Ariza.

“It’s not the healthiest thing to do but it’s okay for short durations.

“For smaller guys like him it’s very difficult constantly having to snack and eat. It’s tedious.

“It’s four or five solid meals a day. We try to cover all the sources of protein: meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, as well as supplements.

“He can eat pretty much eat anything he wants within reason: curry, rice — we have it all.

“You’ve got to remember these guys are burning off 5,000 calories a day.”

Ariza is also responsible for the diet and conditioning of Manny Pacquiao, who trains alongside Khan at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles and is considered to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

And the American, who has a degree in exercise and nutritional science from San Diego University, reckons Khan matches the Filipino stride for stride.

“Manny’s a machine but we train them both the same way,” he said.

“No one can run with Manny — normally we send the dog out because it’s the only one who can — but Amir matches him step for step.

“Amir is looking really well. I always go off what Freddie says and he says he’s cracking the pads so I’m happy.”

Khan, meanwhile, has vowed to “make a statement” against Salita as he looks ahead to unification title fights next year.

Khan said: “Now I’ve hit world-class level, I want to beat these people. Not just beat them, I want to knock them out and I want to put a stamp there to say, ‘look guys, Amir Khan is here and you better be careful what you say because I’m the world champion and I’m going to back it up by fighting and making a statement’.

“I think, when I beat this guy it’s going to spring me up in America. More people will get to know me in America and we’ll take it from there.

“Freddie is a great help as well, being an American coach. We have a lot of offers and pulling power and we’ll take it from there.”

Khan added: “We’ll go in and sort this guy (Salita) out. I can see in his eyes he’s worried.”