Amir Khan clambered up off the canvas to keep his dreams of muscling back in on the world title picture just about alive with a dramatic points victory over Julio Diaz at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield. Khan turned a routine-looking assignment into a desperate war as he was dumped by a big left hook in the fourth round and teetered on the brink of further knockdowns as Diaz forced a spectacular finish.
Khan did enough in the early rounds to deserve his unanimous 115-113, 115-112, 114-113 points win, but it was far from the convincing statement he sought as he looks to set up lucrative showdowns back in the big time. Fighting at a career-heaviest 143lbs, Khan knew he could ill afford to slip up after successive defeats to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia threatened to bring an end to his top-level career.
After the match, Golden Boy Promotions CEO, Richard Schaefer, said Khan would return on a date in December and the match would be for a world title.
Golden Boy is conducting an internal junior welterweight tournament at the moment. Later tonight, Danny Garcia will defend the WBC/WBA titles against Zab Judah. The winner will go up against the May 18th showdown between IBF champion Lamont Peterson and Lucas Matthysse. The overall winner between those fights will take on Khan, according to recent interviews with Schaefer.
