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WBA light-welterweight title
Amir Khan tipped to scale the highest heights by Freddie Roach
Freddie Roach, the mastermind behind Manny Pacquiao's rise to become pound-for-pound champion, believes Amir Khan will one day take over the Filipino's mantle as the world's best fighter and become "my next superstar".
Khan meets Andreas Kotelnik for the Ukrainian's WBA light-welterweight belt in Manchester on 18 July, when he makes his first attempt at winning a world title. Since losing to the Colombian Breidis Prescott in the opening 58 seconds of a nightmarish outing last September, Khan has been under Roach's guidance at his Los Angeles Wild Card gym.
The 22-year-old has since dispatched Oisin ***an before Christmas and dismantled Marco Antonio Barrera in March. Yet while Roach is staying on-message by insisting he and Khan are focusing on Kotelnik, there is already talk of the British boxer heading for greatness and a berth in the sport's hall of fame.
"I do," Roach said simply, when asked if he thinks Khan can rise to the pound-for-pound title. "Amir's a great athlete like Manny Pacquiao, he's the only one who can keep up with him running in the morning, they both have a great work ethic and they want to learn."
If Roach hesitated slightly before offering this verdict and then focused on industrious training rather than mention ring sense or the talent in Khan's fists, the coach left little doubt where he sees his man: "I truly believe Amir can be my next superstar."
Roach understands that being knocked out – Pacquiao has suffered it – does not always end dreams of supremacy. "It's how they come back that counts. We're prepared not to make those mistakes that were made in that one fight and life goes on," he said of the Prescott knock-out.
For Khan the champion, life starts on 18 July and will continue on, he hopes, to a grand tour of all the fight game's glittering venues. Plus, at some point, the Reebok Stadium in front of a hometown crowd. "You need ambitions to take you places. Mine are to fight the likes of [Juan Manuel] Márquez and other great fighters and Ricky Hatton," Khan said, inadvertently, though correctly, placing the Hyde boxer where he now sadly stands in boxing's hierarchy. "I have to beat Kotelnik to get to those fights. I've built my fan base in England, now I want to do it in America – that's where boxing's huge.
"I don't just want to fight in Vegas, I want to fight all over. Madison Square Garden is also a huge boxing attraction. But I'm always going to come to England as well. I've always said I'd love to fight in the Bolton Wanderers stadium. That's what I want to do, definitely, in my boxing career." First up, though, is Kotelnik at the MEN Arena in just over a week.
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