MANCHESTER (AFP) - Amir Khan described the most significant victory of his career as "easy" after winning a fifth round technical decision over Marco Antonio Barrera at the MEN Arena here on Saturday. Former three division world champion Barrera was stopped on a cut caused by an accidental clash of heads and Khan was deemed the winner on all three of the judges scorecards. The English boxer left the ring with the World Boxing Association (WBA) International and World Boxing Organisation (WBO) Inter-Continental lightweight belts, but put himself back into contention for more respected world titles after suffering his first professional defeat last year. Khan, 22, was stopped in 54 seconds by Colombian Breidis Prescott in September but displayed a tighter defence in a more controlled display than previous fights. Khan won by scores of 50-45 twice and 50-44 and the 2004 Olympic silver medallist claims he would have stopped Mexican Barrera if the bloody bout had been allowed to continue much longer. "I know if he would have stayed in that fight another two rounds he would have got knocked out," Khan told a news conference after the fight. "I caught him with some clean shots and I won every round easy. It felt easy in there and I want to fight as soon as possibly now. "It didn't seem as if I got out of second gear. I wanted to use my brain and box the guy. It just seemed so easy in there. It was a make or break fight for me but I made him look ordinary. "In a couple more fights I will be there with the best. A lot of people said I was finished after the Prescott fight but that just made me train harder." Khan has been training with coach Freddie Roach in Los Angeles since losing to Prescott. Roach also trains Filipino Manny Pacquiao, who is regarded as boxing's best pound-for-pound boxer, and believes Khan can rise to the same levels of achievement as Pacquiao. "This is Amir's first step to greatness," Roach told a news conference. "He has similar qualities to Manny." Khan is now in a good position to earn a crack at the WBO world lightweight title, held by Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. But Khan's promoter Frank Warren is unsure a fight with Marquez will happen. "I'm hearing Marquez is going to fight Floyd Mayweather Junior next [at light-welterweight] so we will just have to see what happens," Warren told a news conference. "We would like Amir to fight again in June. He did everything that I felt he was capable of." Any hope Barrera had seemed doomed the moment blood started spurting from the gruesome gash on his forehead, caused by an accidental clash of heads in the first round. The Mexican's corner could not stem the blood and Barrera could not stop Khan from landing his fast combinations as the Englishman darted in and out range. It was an inevitable the cut was going to stop Barrera continuing if Khan could not finalise the outcome himself and in the fifth round referee David Parris finally ended the bloody fight. Barrera swiftly left the MEN Arena after the fight to receive stitches at a nearby hospital and it was the second successive fight he had been stopped on a cut after Freudis Rojas opened up a gash by his eye with a headbutt in a warm-up bout on January 31. After winning world titles at super-bantamweight, featherweight and super-featherweight, Barrera's days at the top could be over after suffering his third defeat in his last five fights. Khan claimed his 20th victim from 21 fights while Barrera has now lost seven of 73 fights.