On the undercard to Williams-Skelton, Olympic star Amir Khan enthralled the 9,000 present at the Excel Arena with a blistering display of combination punching, drilling jr welter journeyman Jackson Williams to the canvas three times before referee Dave Parris called a halt to the one-sided contest.
 
Khan blazed his way to a sixth straight win, and fifth stoppage, once again using his youthful energy and handspeed to overcome an older but less talented foe. At this stage of a budding young career, a stream of unambitious journeymen are expected as the young protagonist learns his craft, but what Khan really needs at the moment is rounds under his belt...and the journeymen matched so far simply haven’t been able to do that, apart, of course, from tough guy Baz Carey who went the full four rounds in Khan’s second pro fight.

So, in the meantime, we get to see Khan blitz his way through the lower echelons of the lightweight and jr welterweight divisions, learning his trade, developing his strength (he is, after all, only 19 years of age) and padding a potentially superb little record.

Here, against Williams (12-3-0 coming in), Khan had trouble penetrating the Norwich man’s crab-like defence, so instead chose to overwhelm him with bursts of quick fisted combinations, mixed in with the odd body shot under Williams’ high guards. A flurry of shots floored ‘Action’ Jackson in the 2nd, and a left hook to the ribcage put him down again in the third. When Khan stepped up the pace and dropped the journeyman once more later in the round with a right to the temple, it looked almost over. Surely enough, as Williams wilted under the force of Khan’s follow up, Parris stepped in to save the shaven-headed college lecturer.

On paper, Williams was Khan’s best opponent to date. He was a fully-blown jr welter with a winning record, and Khan dealt with him effortlessly. So, if you’re Frank Warren, who promotes and manages Khan, what do you do with a 19 yr old boy wonder? Keep him busy scoring stoppages over journeymen? Or stick him in for a title bout as quickly as possible?

Of course the latter may allow Khan’s natural ability to garner him a belt in double quick time and propel him onto the world stage before he’s even 21 years of age...but I think Frank is clever enough to keep the little Bolton star bubbling under for a few years. In two years time, Khan will be strong enough to blow away the rest of Britain. In four years time, his power will have developed enough for him to take on the world. With such a sure-fire hit, why would you want to jeopordise this by rushing him?

In the meantime, be happy to see the future of British boxing develop his skills. There’s still plenty of time.

CLICK FOR MORE

Send questions and comments to: mattwinsper@yahoo.co.uk