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Hot lightweight prospect Amir Khan tops the bill tonight at the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England when he faces dangerous Colombian Breidis Prescott.
At stake is the WBO Intercontinental Lightweight title, but more importantly both men’s unbeaten records are on the line.
Khan, 21 from Bolton, England, is unbeaten in 18 bouts with 14 knockouts. The 2004 Olympic Silver Medallist is an exciting boxer puncher. In Prescott, he meets a man who also carries knockout power. Unbeaten in 19, the 25 year old Colombian has scored 17 knockouts, most of which have been in the first five rounds.
Again, the spotlight is on Khan. Although exciting, the Bolton sensation has also looked defensively open. Against light punching Scot Willie Limond in July of last year, Khan was tagged badly before rallying to stop his opponent in eight.
In his most recent fight, three months ago, against veteran Michael Gomez, who was formerly a British Super Featherweight Champion, Khan was floored before knocking out the Mancunian slugger in five.
Little is known of Prescott apart from the fact that he can punch. However, looking through his record, most of his CV is filled with little known opponents in his native Colombia.
The big selling point of this fight, which amazingly is being aired as a Pay Per View event here in the UK, is that both men are punchers and Khan likes a tear up if needed.
That being said, Khan’s promoter is a shrewd businessman and I cant see him risking Khans perfect 0 just yet and I feel Khan will box and move, using his cutting punches to break down Prescott’s defence by the midway stage.
The big Manchester bill also sees the first defence of Alex Arthur’s WBO Super Featherwight title against fellow Brit, Nicky Cook.
This could upstage the Khan matchup as fight of the night.
Arthur, since his surprise loss to Michael Gomez in October, 2003, has remained unbeaten, picking up the interim title last time out against Stephen Foster.
In Cook, Arthur meets a man who has campaigned in both the feather and super feather divisions. Like Arthur, Cook has only the one defeat, when he was beaten in a bid for the vacant WBO Featherweight title in 11 rounds last July against Steven Luevano.
Although Khan is top of the bill, I think this could be the show stealer. Cook is gritty and Arthur is skillful. It’s a great clash of styles. However, I feel that Arthur has the natural size advantage, is comfortable in his new role as a world champion and should come through this matchup either late on or by points.
The Manchester bill also has an appearance by 2000 Olympic Super Heavyweight Champion Audley Harrison, who faces Brazilian George Arias. British fans will know Arias from when he challenged then WBO Cruiserweight Champion Johnny Nelson for Nelson’s title in January, 2001. That night he went the distance with Nelson. This time against Harrison, he shouldn’t last half the distance.
