BOLTON boxer Amir Khan believes his boxing mistakes are behind him after stepping up to welterweight with a comprehensive points victory over Luis Collazo in Las Vegas recently.

The 27-year-old had his first fight at 147lbs on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s win against Marcos Maidana and impressed in knocking Collazo to the canvas three times.

Khan believes the victory was proof he is more suited to the bigger weight class and more focused.

And while he admits he could go even higher and end his career as a light-middleweight, the former unified world champion is targeting big wins in his new division in the hope of securing a fight against Mayweather.

Khan said: “The more fights I have at 147lbs, the better I will get. I might finish my career off at 154lbs – I have always said that. I may go up to light middleweight. But it would be amazing to win a world title at this weight and then go up and win one there.

“At the moment, 147lbs is perfect for me. I am smarter now at this weight.”

The Collazo victory was Khan’s second in succession in his third outing with American trainer Virgil Hunter.

He says Hunter has helped develop him into a much more mature fighter than in his younger days. But he concedes mistakes made in the past were more down to his own impatience and brash style than any training deficiencies.

Khan added: “I have improved as a fighter and am happy about that. The old Khan may have lost against Collazo – tried to go for it and got caught.

“He thought he could put me under pressure and catch me but I am different now. “I caught him with a lot of shots and didn’t really think I would put him down three times. When I put him down first time it gave me confidence that I had the punch power at 147lbs.

“I’ve made mistakes in the past and it was me making those mistakes.

“I don’t blame any trainers for what has happened, it’s down to me.

“Freddie Roach (former trainer) is one of the best trainers in the world and I still made mistakes.

“Maybe I should have been more focused. I used to go off my game-plan. I stuck to it for one or two rounds and then tried to do my own thing.

“The shot Danny Garcia caught me with when he beat me was because I wanted to finish him off and I left myself too open.

“I was more frustrated from the long training camp, after the Lamont Peterson rematch was called off, and wanted the fight to be over quickly and I was catching him with good shots. I am older now and won’t make that mistake again.”