by James Slater – It’s almost as if the disastrous night against Colombian banger Breidis Prescott never happened for Amir Khan. Although the 22-year-old is only two wins removed from his 54-second nightmare, Khan is one victory away from becoming a legitimate world champion. Not only that, but Khan is sure he will go on to become the next big star of British boxing after he’s beaten WBA 140-pound ruler Andriy Kotelnik..
Now that Joe Calzaghe has retired and Ricky Hatton has seemingly come to the end as a top name player, Khan will only have WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch as a rival world champion in the UK – and though Khan has said nothing to disrespect Carl, he feels that it will be he who is the future of British boxing.
Khan knows the sky will be the limit if he can defeat the Ukrainian on July 18th, and that if he does so big fights against the aforementioned Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and even the great Floyd Mayweather Junior will make him the number one boxing star of his country.
“I do think they need a new star in British boxing and I think it will be me,” Khan said to Sky Sports. “Winning the next fight will open a lot of doors for me and I think it will be good for British boxing.”
Khan knows only too well that a win over Kotelnik will make him a genuine world class operator, and that his capturing of a respected world title will make the big fights he wants easy to make.
Khan spoke about how he wants fights with the likes of Hatton and even Mayweather Junior.
“I need these fights to get me where I want to get to,” Khan said. “I’m a fan of Ricky Hatton. It would be a great fight for the British public, two great fighters and two of the biggest boxers in Britain. I know I can beat Kotelnik and I know I can take the world title from him.
“In the future the likes of Marquez, Mayweather and those guys, I’m not saying I can beat them now, but I know when I do hit my peak these guys are beatable and I’ve got the style to beat a lot of fighters.”
Some fans will perhaps laugh at Khan’s talk of even fighting Mayweather, let alone beating him one day – after all, Khan hasn’t even beaten Kotelnik yet; and many fans feel he will not do so when the two clash in Manchester. But you can’t knock Khan’s self belief.
Amir’s new trainer, Freddie Roach, certainly believes in his charge, as he told Sky Sports.
“I do believe he is the [best] prospect in the world right now,” Roach stated. “Now he’s getting his chances over here, I definitely feel he’s on the right path. He’s the U.K’s next superstar.”
There is no doubt, a Khan-Hatton fight would be massive in Britain, and if he were to win, Khan could well become the superstar Roach says he will be. There is just the small matter of the 22-year-old with the unreliable chin beating 31-year-old Kotelnik first! A lot of big plans sure will be left in tatters if the WBA champ keeps his belt later this month.