Amir Khan - "I'm fighting the best fighters in the division (those that will fight me, anyway)"

Plush west London hotel The Mayfair hosted Amir Khan`s packed official announcement of his next world title defence against American Lamont Peterson yesterday.

Khan arrived first and was described by Golden Boy Promotions' Richard Schaefer as ‘The face of boxing in the UK’ ahead of the bout scheduled for December 10th in Peterson`s hometown of Washington DC.

Fresh from his knockout victory over Zab Judah in July, Khan will defend his WBA ‘Super’ and IBF light-welterweight titles.

Schaefer was canny when answering a question about UK TV and would only say "we will come back to that in the next few weeks".  As Sky personnel were present at the conference, should one presume that Sky and Golden Boy are now keen to kiss and make up after Khan was downgraded from pay-per-view? BoxNation and recent Khan broadcaster Primetime may also be competing.

Khan`s handlers were persuaded to hold a fight in Washington after a recent trip to meet Hillary Clinton confirmed his popularity as many fans stopped him for pictures. Schaefer talks a good fight although some of what he claims brought a cheeky smirk to my heart and mouth. He boasted that this is an anticipated fight and on several occasions referred to Khan being the 140lbs undisputed champion. Scanning through forums and the boxing press in recent months hardly confirms those statements.

Firstly, fans want to see Khan fight WBO holder Timothy Bradley (Khan claims both he and WBC champion Eric Morales turned a match down) and Khan holds two of the four belts in an ever confusing alphabet and money mix. Casual sports fans might be taken in but trade media should know better.

Having said that some national writers will probably play the game anyway in widely proclaiming Khan as the undisputed boss of the division.

Peterson (29-1-1), the IBF number one contender, was accompanied by his trainer and manager Barry Hunter who recalled first meeting Khan in the States when the Bolton man was a raw 16 year-old and complimented him as an excellent fighter and a good person.  

27 year-old Lamont has come up short twice in tussles with Bradley (widely outpointed) and recently dethroned WBC welterweight ruler Victor Ortiz (draw) and was phlegmatic throughout the day.

“I`m glad to be here, I`m glad to be fighting for a world title again.I know Amir will be training hard to defend his titles, I will be training hard to take his titles.

“It should be a great fight. I appreciate the opportunity to be fighting for the world title again. A lot of people who are world champions won`t go to someone else`s back yard so I give Amir a lot of credit for that.

“It will be a great fight and I am looking forward to it.”

Schaefer recalled Bernard Hopkins' challenge in Jean Pascal`s hometown last year when the 46 year-young champion explained his reasons for wanting to fight on hostile ground. “It`s gangster.” Schaefer`s story brought laughter among the media and compared Amir's Washington date to this boasting Khan sees no challenge big enough.

Khan (26-1) looked forward to his next big pay day saying, “It's going to be great training with Manny Pacquiao again, he`s such a great guy to train with and I`m sure he will give me some tips.

“He`s (Lamont) got a lion's heart and the one thing that excites me is it`s going to be great fight.

“Both fighters have been down and come back so he`s just like me a box fighter like myself.

“I can see this fight being very technical, Freddie said we have to stick to a game plan for this fight.

“I know Lamont has trained very hard for this fight but I am going to be training even harder.

“It`s always harder to keep hold of your titles. I’m fighting the best fighters in this division.”

Unlike Amir and his team I can`t say I’m too excited by this fight. I would be interested to know why Morales and Bradley shunned the challenge. Both are world champions and in Morales case a legend might mean (especially in the Mexican's case) Amir taking less TV money and his challenger demanding a bigger purse.

I`m all in favour of the pugilists earning every single penny as it`s a tough old game. Please just don`t ask the TV viewers to pay even more on top of their £40 monthly SKY bill!