Khan looking for explosive first defence

WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan is all set to make the first defence of his crown and send out a statement to the wider boxing world in the process. Fighting in Newcastle on Saturday night, live on Sky Box Office, Khan will take on unbeaten Ukrainian Dmitriy Salita in a mandatory defence.

It will be the first time the Bolton fighter, still only 22, walks to the ring as champion rather than challenger and he has admitted to wanting to put on an exciting display for the British fans.

Speaking at yesterday's press conference, Khan said, "Now I've hit world-class level, I want to beat these people."

"Not just beat them, I want to knock them out and I want to put a stamp there to say, 'look guys, Amir Khan is here and you better be careful what you say because I'm the world champion and I'm going to back it up by fighting and making a statement'."

Khan has been working on his strength and power in the build up to this fight and admitted he had to make adjustments to his style in his preparations for Salita.

"There's a few things that we've seen in his fights, on the videos, that me and Freddie have been working on, but we'll save them and use them on Saturday night.

"The things that I've been working on have worked in sparring and I have to say I had to change my style a little bit for this fight but I think it's worked for the best.

"I'm sure he's been training hard, but we've been sparring with welterweights and light-middleweights and I've been handling them, I've been knocking them out, so, you know, my power's developed.

"I've got Alex Ariza, who's brought me on, he's my strength conditioner and he's made me so strong and I feel like a big light-welterweight myself now."

Certainly it should be a good test for Khan in only his second fight at the 140lb limit against a fighter who has stopped 16 of 31 opponents, all at 140 or higher. Should he win, and win in style, then the division holds a host of exciting potential match-ups, and with interest in America growing, victory against New-York based Salita could be the perfect ticket to big showdowns stateside.

"I think, when I beat this guy - an American opponent - it's going to spring me up in America. More people will get to know me in America and we'll take it from there.

"I can't wait to fight, and show the public, and show my fans how much I have learned in the last 12 months.

"I want to keep hold of this world title as long as I can, defend it a lot of times and win more world titles on top of it."