Khan-Salita: Amir looking forward to December 5th fight

By William Mackay: World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (21-1, 15 KO’s) is eagerly looking forward to his December 5th bout against number #1 challenger Dmitriy Salita (30-0-1, 16 KO’s) at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear. Khan, 22, is reportedly motivated after watching stalemate Manny Pacquiao take WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto out in the 12th round last Saturday night.

Khan will be making his first defense of his WBA title, which he won with a lopsided 12 round decision over Andriy Kotelnik on July 18th. Khan would prefer to face a better known opponent than Salita. However, because Salita is his mandatory challenger, Khan’s hands are tired for this fight. He has to take the fight or else be stripped of his title.

Khan is hoping on looking good in this fight and then move on against some bigger names in the boxing world. Khan was especially impressed with Pacquiao’s win over Cotto, saying in an article at Sportinglife “I was ringside at the MGM Grand on Saturday, and seeing Pacquiao’s performance up close makes me want to train even harder and get to the level he is at right now.” Khan will be turning 23 next month on December 8th, and has a lot of time to keep improving as a fighter. Many boxing fans are wondering when Khan will step up the level of his competition.

Although Khan did accomplish a great deal in beating Kotelnik, a fighter with excellent technical boxing skills, Khan has shown a weakness when facing punchers. Khan was flattened in the 1st round by Colombian slugger Breidis Prescott in September. Many people figured that Khan would attempt to avenge the defeat and take on Prescott immediately in a rematch.

However, since that time Khan has steered clear of Prescott, as well as other big punchers. Given that knockout artist Marcos Maidana is the WBA interim light welterweight champion, Khan won’t have long to wait for him to work on getting to the level where Pacquiao is at, as he’ll have to decide whether he wants to face Maidana or not. However, Khan first has to get by Salita on December 5th, and that could be a lot tougher fight than some people are expecting it to be.

Salita has good power and if he can connect with one of his big shots, he could expose Khan’s fragile chin. Salita will have to be good on his feet, though, because Khan has become much more of a mover in the past year since taking on Freddie Roach as his trainer. Khan mixes it up much less than he used to and is more focused on using his jab and quick combinations.

Khan no longer stays in front of his opponents for long trying to slug it out. However, Khan still gets hit periodically despite the change in his fighting style. Salita will have to try and trap Khan near the ropes and put everything he has into his shots and hope that he can get lucky somehow.

23 Responses to “Khan-Salita: Amir looking forward to December 5th fight”