Khan puts in his best performance to date to win his first World title
It was dubbed “The Man Who Would Be King” and Amir Khan showed why he deserved that title after putting in his finest performance to date to beat Ukraining Andreas Kotelnik and grab the WBA World light-weltweight crown in the MEN Arena in Manchester.
His rehabilitation under renowned American trainer Freddie Roach came full circle as he produced a dominant display against Kotelnik and brush any memories of his devastating 52 second knockout by Breidis Prescott last September, well and truly under the carpet.
At the start of his professional career, Khan became known for knocking out his mediocre opponents quickly and thus every fight brought the question, which round will he knock him out? It was the same question that shadowed his loss to Prescott and his urgency to send him sprawling to the canvas backfired badly.
This time, Khan put in a performance of maturity, composure and concentration and will have silenced some his critics, myself included. Despite beating former world champion Marco Antonio Barrera due to a nasty the cut Mexican got, I was still unsure whether Khan had really improved, although the signs were there. Tonight, he went through only his second twelve round battle and came through with flying colours and the world title he so badly wanted.
Roach, who’s masterminded the fortunes of the pound for pound king Manny Pacquaio, has only accelerated his reputation as the finest boxing trainer on the planet at the moment. Khan’s improvement in his footwork, more thought out combinations in his punching and refusing to go down, is all down to Roach’s wizardary as a trainer.
For Khan, only good thing await the Olympic silver medalist. I for one, hope he will resist the lure of fighting good mate Ricky Hatton and go on to a huge fight in the States. The man from Bolton, is now well and truly, The King.
