Amir Khan overcame the odds that threatened to derail his career ten months ago and made good on his promise to win a world title by outpointing Andreas Kotelnik over 12 rounds by scores of 118-111 (twice) and 120-108.
Khan emerged victorious by making good use of his fantastic hand speed, consistently firing off three-and-four-punch combinations through the guard of Kotelnik. The Brit also exhibited good footwork and lateral movement, frustrating the more experienced fighter and finding good angles from which to throw his own barrages.
Kotelnik attempted to stage a comeback in the later rounds, when Khan apparently began to run out of steam, but by then it was too little too late, as the Bolton-based fighter stuck to the high guard that has served him so well in the past three bouts, and shook off whatever shots managed to land through it.
The scorecards correctly indicate the British bomber's dominance; but credit also goes to Freddie Roach, who has masterminded the resurgence of Amir Khan by virtue of a totally revamped defence and a style that does not employ the overt aggressiveness that defined the 22-year-old early in his career.
The newly crowned WBA light welterweight champion, Khan, said that he will decide on his course of action over the coming weeks - although speculation is already rife that he is set to face Ricky Hatton in an all-British showdown, or else fight the un-retired Erik Morales. Certain bloggers (myself included) have been screaming for a Zab Judah match, provided that the latter gets by Matthew Hatton (Ricky's younger brother) this September.
On the undercard, Olympic middleweight gold-medallist James "Chunky" DeGale pummeled Ciaran Healey to a first-round stoppage en route to a third consecutive win to start his career, whilst former Olympian Billy Joe Saunders stopped Matt Scriven in two and Frankie Gavin beat Graham Fearn, also in tow rounds. All three youngsters are 3-0 and are tipped to become top contenders in their respective divisions.
Also on the undercard, Anthony Small pulled off an upset to beat Matthew Hall by eighth round KO for the vacant Commonwealth light middleweight title in an entertaining scrap. Anthony Small turned in the performance of his career, and will now be looking for fights on the international stage.
Whilst Small was celebrating, former cruiserweight world champion Enzo Maccarinelli was left to concede that his career may have come to an end, after getting comprehensively beaten for three rounds by unknown Denis Lebedev, before the ref mercifully called off the fight. Macca has now been KO'd in three of his last four fights, and the former WBO titleholder admits that he "doesn't have it anymore."
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