By Chris Kelly: It’s now a forgone conclusion that Britain’s WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan (21-1, 15 KO’s) will be facing Ukrainian born Dimitry Salita (30-0-1, 16 KO’s) in December, in a fight that will probably take place in London, England. This doesn’t make for the most thrilling match-up of Khan’s career granted, but Salita is his mandatory challenger so there is no real getting out of the fight for Khan.
It does however come with many positives; the most obvious being that Khan’s first defense of his WBA crown is likely (if not almost certainly) to be successful. It will also provide him with valuable experience. Remember, Khan is still only 22 years old with only 22 professional bouts to his name. It is all still a learning process for the Olympic silver medalist.
In addition, though the fight itself may not aid Amir’s career in any way, the result almost definitely will. Beating the WBA’s no.1 contender will allow the champion to establish himself as top level fighter and make him more eligible for possible bouts with the likes of Victor Ortiz, Marcos Maidanna or Juan Diaz before stepping up to fight the world’s elite and stake his claim to the pound for pound throne against the likes of fellow light-welter and stable mate Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Andre Berto, Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosely; All fights seemingly mouth watering prospects in their own right.
As for Khan’s apparent weak chin, allow me to take you on a stroll down memory lane to those who have managed to put Khan on the canvas. Most recently there was the brutal first round knockout that he suffered at the hands of Breidis Prescot, which given Prescott’s knockout rate, is no shameful thing.
Khan also suffered knockdowns in the lightweight division to both Willie Limond (who would go on to become WBU Lightweight world champion) as well as the Mancunian Michael Gomez a former world champion noted for his own punching power. It is for this reason I must insist that these knockdowns do not a weak chin make.
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