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By Jake Donovan - To the average fighter, winning a major title means the pinnacle of his career. If nothing else pans out beyond that, he can always go home saying he once reigned as champion. [details]
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I like what I'm hearing from Khan just now.
He's stated that he wants all mandatories for his strap, and wants to unify the LWW division.
If he sticks by his word and comes out on top then it will have been a truly remarkable turnaround for him.
Amir Khan has begun training earlier than usual as he prepares for the first defence of his WBA light-welterweight crown against Ukrainian Dmitriy Salita.
Khan beat Andreas Kotelnik in July to win the title and will meet Salita in Newcastle on 5 December.
"I had a long break after Kotelnik and wanted to get back earlier," said Khan.
"Every fight I'm getting better. But Salita is tough and durable and he wants to take the title off me. That's making me train twice as hard."
Khan has travelled to the United States for his training camp and he says he is not shirking any challenges as he bids to continue his rise up the boxing ladder.
Salita, a Ukrainian fighter raised in New York, is unbeaten in 31 bouts and Khan said: "It's a huge fight, I'm the world champion and Dimitry wants to come and take that title.
"It's going to be a tough fight and a long night but hopefully my game plan will work."
He added: "This is what people want to see, they want to see Amir Khan fight tough fighters.
"Salita is the mandatory challenger and we're not taking the easy route, we're taking the hard route.
"I want to fight my mandatories, I don't want to take shortcuts. I want to fight whoever is out there.
"When I turned professional my ambition was to be a world champion. I've achieved that and now my ambition is to unify the belts and be the best fighter in my weight division.
"These are the fights I need if I want to become the champion I want to be."
Salita says he will be targeting weaknesses in the Khan make-up to create an upset on Tyneside.
"I'm very excited, I've been number one contender for a very long time and I'm very confident," said the 27-year-old.
"He's a good boxer but there are things in his game I can take advantage of.
"I see all the English writers talking about the next fight but I'm coming to get the title and bring it back to Brooklyn.
"I feel 100% ready for the task. I'm in with a very good fighter but I always imagined I would have to fight these kind of guys to be a champion." -
Rematch Barrera first...Comment
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nice article. Amir Khan has a lot of potential. What everyone seems to forget is that he is only 22 years old. And he is already very very popular.Comment
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salita is the best hes fought rate him much higher than kotelnik barrera in his day would of beat khan think everyone the world over knows that even khan but khan is makeing strides and keeps excelling then could be a top p4p in 3 years time hes sayin he wants the best hes the right division to do it got ye mayweathers mosleys cottos just a div up world his oyesterComment
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Khan is going right thru Salita in a borefest, but its a hurdle that he has to clear since he is the mandatory. If he is looking at the Peterson/Bradley it is obvious that he is looking a KO records. Don't give him a chance against either of those two and there are other great matchups it Maidana, Ortiz, Urango, Alexander, all punchers that he will never mention. He should stand by and keep on winning against B level competition cause my guess is that Floyd Mayweather will be calling him real soonComment
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We dont know that...He had a gash in his head bigger than the grand canyon. I guarantee outcome would have been different if that wasnt there. We all know he got robbed. There were not enough rounds to say oh man Barerra is getting dominated. With a cut like that your game plan changes drastically. Its not like it was a cut. It was gash! Plus Barerra always has a punchers chance. Im not say Barerra would have won but it may have been more competitive and outcome could have been different.Comment
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