by James Slater: It was a short and very impressive night for defending WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan tonight, as he cut through undefeated challenger Dmitriy Salita of New York in just one minute and 16 seconds.
The astonishingly fast-handed 22-year-old sent the older man down three times in all, prompting referee Luis Pavon to wave the bout off. Salita, who fell to 30-1-1(16) looked utterly devastated, which, put bluntly, is what he was. The world champ improved to 22-1(17) and he has never looked faster or more powerful.
Mere seconds into the opening round, Khan let loose with a right hand and decked his man. Bringing deafening roars from a crowd who loved him and showed it, Khan wasted no time in following up. No way was the former Olympian going to let Salita, as badly hurt as he clearly was, off the hook..
Sending the challenger into a corner with more hurtful blows, Khan had his opponent desperatley trying his best to cover up. Down for a second time as the result of a barrage of lightning fast blows, Salita and his team had to know the end was near. The Jewish fighter tried his best to hold and/or fight back, and he showed heart in doing so – but he had gone. The fional knockdown came via a sharp left hand to the chin by Khan, and the fight was waved over.
Okay, some will definitely say that Salita – a slow starter who has been floored three times previously in the opening round of a fight – was tailor-made for Khan. And the praise I’ve given the 22-year-old from Bolton will perhaps not be seen as deserved by his critics. But bottom line; Khan got the job done in style, and in so doing he got rid of his mandatory challenger without really breaking a sweat.
There will surely be bigger and far more demanding fights for the hugely popular boxer, and it will be extremely interesting to see who he faces next. There has been talk of a U.S debut, possibly against Juan Manuel Marquez, and that would be some fight to see. Or maybe Khan will look to have an all-British showdown with the unbeaten Kevin Mitchell, who outclassed and out-pointed puncher Breidis Prescott over 12-round on tonight’s under-card (full report to follow).
A return with the Colombian, who put Khan away in less than a minute, though still sellable, has now lost its intrigue – thanks to Mitchell’s one-sided win.
The options are plenty for “King Khan,” though, and a few more wins like the pne he scored tonight will make everyone forget about the sole loss of the WBA 140-pound champion’s career.
It’s tough to see where the vanquished Salita goes from here.