Amir Khan Set To Become the 'King' of the Light Welterweight Division

WBA World light welterweight champion Amir “King” Khan successfully defended his crown against current WBA interim super lightweight titlist Marcos Maidana with a unanimous decision victory Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Khan (24-1, 17 KOs), a Pakistani-British boxer who became the youngest Englishman to win an Olympic medal when he captured silver as a lightweight at the 2004 Games in Greece, floored Maidana (29-2, 7 KOs) with ten seconds left in the first round when he landed a vicious body shot.

Khan is a prizefighter who possesses unlimited potential and abilities in the ring, and he doesn’t really have any glaring warts in his arsenal.

Prior to this weekend’s frantic battle, critics contended Khan had a suspect chin.

In September 2008, Khan was demolished by Breidis Prescott when he suffered a first round knockout loss that cost him his WBO Intercontinental lightweight crown.

During the brief massacre, Khan was knocked down twice by Prescott (23-2, 19 KOs) and he was ultimately beaten a mere 54 seconds into the opening round.

As noted by his sensational knockout percentage, Maidana is an extremely hard puncher who could have sent Khan onto Queer Street with any number of the powerful blows he connected on.

Nevertheless, a bloodied and battered Khan absorbed ample punishment and still managed to fight with a purpose and emerge victorious.

Since partnering with legendary trainer Freddie Roach, Khan has rebounded nicely and triumphed in six consecutive bouts.

"He is a whole different fighter," said Roach, 50, a native of Dedham who was voted Trainer of the Year on four occasions by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

"He's 100 percent better. I've never had a fighter to listen so well, take direction as well and stick to the game plan as well as Amir Khan. He's really become a very good professional fighter. He knows how to fight. He likes to [mix it up] a little bit too much sometimes, I think, but I won't take that away from him because he knows when to do it and when not to."

Khan is so much better now that he apparently trumped iconic pugilist Manny Pacquiao a slew of times during recent sparring sessions that Roach oversaw.

"Some days he got a bit of the best of Manny, some days Manny got the best of him," Roach said, "It was explosive. It was like a cockfight.”

At only 24, Khan is an elite talent who clearly has a gleaming future in the ring.

Speculation is now rampant that Kahn will next scrap with the winner of the Timothy Bradley versus Devon Alexander bout scheduled for late January.

Bradley (26-0-0-1, 11 KOs) and Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs) are both supreme pugilists and formidable foes.

If Khan ever trumps Bradley or Alexander, he really will be the “King” of the light welterweight division.