Olympic Silver Medallist Amir Khan makes his greatly anticipated professional debut tonight in his hometown of Bolton, England on the undercard of Matt Skelton's British Heavyweight title defense against late replacement Mark Krence. The eighteen year old lightweight is riding an unprecedented crest of public goodwill and is arguably responsible for the return of terrestrial television to boxing

Click for larger image © Mike Cleary

in the UK. Scheduled to face Khan in the ring is David Bailey, a twenty four year old southpaw from London who will do his best to avoid becoming the first victim on the Bolton teenager's resume.

David Bailey comes from Eugene Maloney's stable of fighters hailing from the Maloney Fight Factory based in the hardscrabble Dartford section of London. Bailey has come up short in four of his seven contests since turning pro in May of last year and has yet to record a stoppage so far. The southpaw has been on a bit of a streak of late however as he defeated Warren Dunkley two months ago on the heels of a very controversial decision loss to the favored Mickey Bowden in March.

Every fighter hopes for a knockout victory in their professional debut but it may be a challenge for Khan to stop Bailey, who has finished on his feet in all four of his losses. The highly seasoned amateur will be, beyond question, the best boxer Bailey has been in with and can be expected to win every frame of the scheduled four round contest.

Obviously, the most interesting aspect of this fight isn't the bout itself but the speculation as to the shape Khan's career will take. Currently the British lightweight scene is full of good fighters such as Graham Earl, Jason Cook, Kevin Bennett, Gavin Rees Bobby Vanzie, Steve Murray and others. Most of these names will likely have moved out of the top slots by the time Khan is ready to contend for domestic honors so we must look elsewhere to project just who Khan may face by decade's end.

Manchester's Craig Watson may be the first fighter of substance that Khan faces domestically as the pair's amateur bout earlier this year has set up a natural rivalry. Watson knocked down Khan and held his own over the course of the bout but wasn't able to secure the victory. The young Mancunian came away vowing revenge and has already won both of his pro fights so far. The two are both on tonight's card and it will be interesting to see how they each perform in their respective skirmishes.

Regardless of how successful Amir Khan turns out to be, he's already helped the state of boxing in Britain immeasurably by his hand in luring ITV to return the sport to front rooms across the UK.

Click to read more boxing articles by Curtis McCormick

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