By Nate Anderson: Using power punches consisting mostly of powerful left hooks, the tall Colombian knockout artist Breidis Prescott (20-0, 18 KOs) put away the Amir Khan (18-1, 14 KOs) hype machine with a strong statement by knocking him down twice and taking him out in the 1st round last Saturday night at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester.

The look on Khan’s face as he laid there on the canvas, a combination of bewilderment at what had just happened to him and a drunken-like stupor that Prescott had put him after hitting him with a half power shots to the head. The fact that it only took 54 seconds and a handful of punches to accomplish that seemed to suggest one of two things: either Khan is a glass-jawed fighter who isn’t suited for professional boxing or Prescott hits much harder than most people give him credit for.

As much as people like to think that Khan is a fighter who can’t take a shot, I don’t agree with that in the least. I think it’s more of a case of Prescott being a beast of a puncher, a fighter well capable of taking down the best in the division regardless of who it is.

Not much was known about him coming into his fight with Khan, as he had fought largely all his fights in his native Colombia save for two, and he hadn’t looked particularly good in his prior fight to Khan, a 10-round split decision win over former Cuban amateur star Richard Abril. Having seen his fight against Abril, it’s no wonder why he was overlooked by Khan’s people, who may have seen this fight and falsely assumed that Prescott was a limited fighter with not much boxing skills but a lot of power.

Without the ability to see Prescott’s prior fights, most of which were knockouts, they really only had the word of Khan’s trainer, Jorge Rubio, who had seen Prescott at close hand while training Abril. Prescott was essentially an unknown fighter for Khan’s people, who came from a very poor background in Colombia and who trained under almost primitive standards in comparison to most fighters. However, his talent came though against Khan, and he showed that he was a much better fighter than the one that struggled against Abril in squeezing out a 10-round split decision in June.

So the question is, with as much power and raw skills that Prescott has, can be potentially win a title in the lightweight division? With his win over Khan, Prescott is likely to get a huge bump up the latter in the lightweight division, putting him in position to get a title shot of his own if he can keep winning in the near future. With his huge height of 5’11”, powerful wiry frame, sturdy chin and explosive power, he might have the tools to defeat title holders like Manny Pacquiao or Nate Campbell, if given the chance to fight them.

It’s doubtful that the smallish 5’6″ Pacquiao will stick around the division long enough to fight him, but who knows? Whether he or Campbell does ever choose to fight him or not, he’s likely to get a chance at one of the title holders in the future if he can keep winning. At 25, he’s still young and has a lot of time to keep moving forward with his promising career, and with his win over Khan, he’s now an instant name in the division and among fans.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he can make his mark in England, taking the place of Khan. To be sure, he appears to have all the ingredients that are missing from Khan – one punch power, a strong chin, and an aggressive attack-oriented style of fighting – that can enable him to succeed against the top fighters in the division like Campbell, Pacquiao, Joel Casamayor, Juan Manuel Marquez, Joan Guzman and Edwin Valero.