Amir Khan moved up a weight class, challenged a far more experienced reigning champion and even defied his legion of critics to win the WBA light welterweight title last night at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England.

Khan got off to a fast start once the bell rang and the lanky Bolton youth used his height advantage to keep Kotelnik at bay.

It was clear from the start that Kotelnik had issues with the handspeed and fast footwork of Khan but the WBA titlist's biggest problem was that he wasn't near busy enough.

Largely walking slowly forward or remaining stationary with hands held high, Kotelnik picked off most of Khan's shots and combinations with his gloves but his own punch output was nowhere near what Khan was putting up. More...

Last night at Kingsway Leisure Centre in Widnes there was a good card headlined by promising Commonwealth Light Heavyweight Champion Nathan Cleverly.

The 21 year old Welsh phenom retained his title for the first time by knocking out Kenyan southpaw Douglas Otieno in the fourth frame of a scheduled 12 rounder.

Cleverly improves to 14-0 (4) while Otieno sees a 15 bout win streak snapped to fall to 18-2 (8).

Manchester light middle Matthew Hall, 21-1 (14), won his fifth bout in a row when he finished off Jason Rushton, 18-8 (3), in the sixth.

Two former Hatton brothers stablemates were also on the bill as middleweight Paul Smith, 25-1 (14), outpointed Ciaran Healy, 9-10-1 (2), and super feather Steven Bell, 16-1-2 (5), outpointed Shaun Walton, 4-40-3 (1), in six round bouts.

Prospects Anthony Crolla, Stephen Smith, Tony Bellew and Liam Smith all were winners on the card as well.