By Mark Vester
It wasn't easy, but 21-year-old Amir Khan (16-0, 12KOs) retained his Commonwealth lightweight title with a twelve-round decision over Gary St Clair (39-6-2, 17KOs) at London's ExCel Arena. It was the first time Khan went twelve-rounds in his entire pro career. St Clair has never been stopped, forcing others like Diego Corrales, Vivian Harris and Leonard Dorin to go the distance.
The Olympic silver medalist was unable to seriously hurt St Clair and had to use movement, speed and throwing a higher volume of punches to outwork the more experienced veteran. He used his superior skills as a boxer to win against a tougher than expected pro.
St Clair kept coming for the entire twelve-rounds, never stopped trying to win and showed his own defense skills by blocking a lot of Khan's punches. He also showed his great chin, validating the claims of his manger, Johnny Lewis, who said St Clair had one of the best chins in boxing. He was able to get off with some counters, but Khan took them well and would counter with combinations.
The scores were lopsided with 120-108 on all three cards.
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