By Liam Santiago: Amir Khan is still hitting back at his critic and fellow world champion Carl Froch, in an interview on radio five live. Khan said, ”I know for a fact I’m a better world champion than Froch. I always get dissed by Froch, that’s just jealousy I think. He hasn’t got the recognition I have got and the things I got. Where was he when he was 22? What I have done in this game, no 22 year old has done.”

Khan went on to say that he believes the criticism is mainly because he is so young and people do not expect such great things from a youngster. He also stated he still has big plans to move abroad permanently. ”I am really considering moving abroad. It doesn’t bother me if people hate me, I am just doing what I love doing. Them people that hate me, lets see them go out and win a world title, the way I did.”

Steve Bunce went on to state that Khan’s defence against Salita is a great test for the Bolton man. He said, ”Salita is better than the first defence opponents Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton fought. The difference is Khan is under a microscope, the were not. Joe Calzaghe’s first defence was against a guy called Bronko Sobat, nobody cared about it, hardly any tickets sold. However, is Salita a top 10 guy? No. Is he a top 20 guy? No. And that is also part of the problem.”

Buncey is right. In comparison to Joe Calzaghe, Khan is a fearless warrior. In 46 bouts Calzaghe had about 3 big fights that meant anything. Why not direct the abuse at him. Khan is 22 and hopefully, the bigger nights are not far away. However, back to Froch.

Is Khan a ”better world champion” than Froch. Not really. Froch is the World Boxing Council champion, probably the most highly regarded title, and he has defeated Jean Pascal, finished of Jermain Taylor and edged a points win over the highly talented Andre Dirrell (I had Froch up by one round). However, Khan is not a ‘paper’ champion. His WBA title is also highly regarded and he made a very good fighter (Kotelnik) look very average.