By Zubair Ali: Commonwealth lightweight champion Amir Khan is not resting on his laurels after his fifth round technical decision victory over Marco Antonio Barrera. A deep cut suffered by Barrera caused the referee to bring proceedings to a halt. The fight went to the judge’s scorecards where Khan was unanimously declared the winner.
After what was undoubtedly the biggest win of his career, Khan has now set his sights on winning a world title this year.
“2009 will be a massive year for me. It will definitely be for a world title fight”.
Khan also highlighted the significance of moving to the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles, training under Freddy Roach.
“I think it helps a lot going to the Wild Card gym in America”, said the 22 year old. “It’s made me realise I need to pace myself instead of rushing in and making mistakes I need to pace myself more, fight with my mind, fight with my brains instead of fighting with my heart sometimes because that can get you into trouble. I’ve done that now so it’s just maintaining that picking the right fights and before you know it a world title shot will come. Win that and then carry on”.
Khan defeated 3 weight world champion Marco Antonio Barrera just two weeks ago, but believes this is only the start.
“Starting the year of by beating Marco Antonio Barrera is great and I’m going to move on to bigger and better fights and 2009 is going to be a big year for me”!
The Olympic silver medallist also revealed it is unlikely he will be sparring Manny Pacquiao ahead of the Filipino’s clash with Ricky Hatton on May 2.
“I have suffered a cut so I do not think I will be sparring with him (Pacquiao),” Khan said. “I need to let the cut heal first. Maybe if it had not been so bad I would probably have sparred with him”.
The cut was caused by an accidental clash of heads during the opening round of Khan’s fight with Marco Antonio Barrera.
Khan added “The wound is getting better but it needs a couple more weeks for it to heal properly”.
He also stated he will remain a neutral spectator when his gym mate Manny Pacquiao challenges Amir’s good friend Ricky Hatton for his IBO light welterweight title.
“I am not going to support anyone”, he said. “I am just going to enjoy myself. I am going to be happy for both of them. What a massive fight it is”.
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