David Haye believes Dmitriy Salita will prove to be a tough opponent for Amir Khan when he makes his first defence of the WBA light-welterweight title in Newcastle on Saturday night.

Newly-crowned WBA heavyweight king Haye, who beat Nikolai Valuev at the Nuremberg Arena in Germany last month, will be ringside for the big showdown.

And he is expecting the unbeaten American, who has 16 KOs from his 30 victories, to ask one or two questions of Khan's world-class ambitions.

Haye said: "Salita is a solid fighter and is very good. I know a few people who have seen him in the past saying he could he trouble."

Nevertheless Haye expects Khan to retain the belt he won by beating Andriy Kotelnik on points back in July.

"Khan is in tremendous shape already," he said.

"I will be there as I really want to see him defend his title."