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One-round finish for the Olympic medallist in Bolton
In the biggest challenge of his career so far, Khan silenced doubters and cheered supporters with an emphatic first round KO of former world-title challenger Graham Earl. In front of a packed Bolton Arena, which included 1,000 Earl fans who followed the Luton man to Bolton, Khan came out at a blistering pace and dismantled Earl in 1:12 of the first round, with the referee having to step in to save Earl from receiving further punishment.
The niggle between the top two lightweights in Britain had been evident in the build-up, with some bad blood developing between the youngster from Bolton and Earl. Khan had been vowing to send Earl into retirement, and Earl promising that he would be the one to derail the Khan bandwagon. However, within a minute and a half of the first bell it was all over and Amir Khan’s apparent march on to possible World and European title shots, and Earl’s career left hanging in the balance.
Khan, now 15-0 (12 K0’s) was dominant throughout the brief fight, barely being hit once by Earl as he stunned the Luton man early, and pounced on his opponent with a left hook to put Earl down within a minute of the first bell. After an eight count it seemed as though Earl was still nonplussed by the second barrage unleashed by Khan, and with nine or ten hooks and straight shots landing on Earl consecutively, the referee had very little choice but to stop the fight as hooks and straight rights from Khan repeatedly landed on Earl’s head.
After the fight, Khan said: “I wasn’t surprised. I had trained very hard. He was number one in Britain and I wanted to beat him. I knew he was under pressure after the first knockdown and I just went for it. I knew I was fighting the best fight of my career. I knew I had it in the tank.”
The big question left open for Khan now is whether his team will be looking to target British Lightweight champion Jon Thaxton next, or looking to establish him with a few more defences of Khan’s Commonwealth Lightweight Title. In the Saturday night bout, his chin was not really tested by Earl, who didn’t land a single clean punch on Khan, and it is a matter of whether risking Khan in another big fight so soon against the big-punching Thaxton is a good idea. There is also the prospect of moving straight on to European championship attempts, which do not seem so far-fetched after his demolition of Earl.
Elsewhere on the bill, Commowealth Light-Heavyweight title holder Dean Francis comfortably outpointed Nigeria’s Michael Gbanga over a quiet 12 rounds that never really caught alight nor caught the imagination. Francis was comfortably the better boxer, and was only occasionally troubled by the agricultural overhand right of Gbanga, who sported a claimed 16-2 record with 15 KO’s before meeting Francis, although boxrec only had him at 5-2. Events rarely got out of walking pace, but Francis, a new member of the Sports Network stable did not manage to ignite proceedings and nor did he look to push forward excessively.
Also in action was the “Contender’s” Paul Smith who struggled to an eight-round points victory over Francis Cheka, looking unmotivated and out of sorts on his anticipated return to action in the UK. Cheka seemed to trouble Smith a couple of times with some direct flurries, and Smith’s movement failed to help him slip out of the way. However, Smith upped his workrate in the later rounds, and Cheka tired to allow Smith to claim the points victory.
