By Mark Vester
In a grudge match at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, Amir Khan (18-0, 14KOs) stopped veteran Michael Gomez (35-9, 24KOs) in five-rounds to retain the Commonwealth lightweight title. A lot of heat for the fight as Gomez was being trained during camp by Oliver Harrison, the former trainer of Khan. Khan was trained for the fight by camp member Dean Powell. He fired Harrison a two-months ago.
In a brawl, Khan put Gomez down in the first-round with some blistering punches that were stamped by a left uppercut. Gomez appeared to be in serious trouble but survived. At the start of the second, Gomez shocked the entire crowd when he stunned Khan with a left hook and sent him down to his knees for a knockdown. Khan recovered and the two began to trade shots.
Gomez had a badly cut left eye as the fighters entered the third, and at that point Khan began to take over the fight. In the fourth, a series of body shots hurt Gomez and another series in the fifth sent Gomez down. He was able to make it up, but Khan began to crack the body and head to force the stoppage.
Khan has now set his mind on coming to America and landing an American-based trainer. Buddy McGirt has been said to be th frontrunner to land the job, but with the recent retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr, Roger Mayweather, who was also being considered, may now become a much bigger player in the decision.
"I've always wanted to go to America, I think every fighter does," said Khan. "Everybody has seen me for three years and been waiting for me to fight for a world title and it would be nice if they could see me on terrestrial TV. You never know there are a lot of television companies and anything could happen."
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