Amir Khan to fight Gairy St Clair

On Frank Warren TV:

Amir Khan has an even tougher assignment on his hands when he faces former world champion Gairy St Clair on Saturday 2nd February at the Excel London.

The undefeated Bolton star was due to face Martin Kristjansen for the Vacant WBO Intercontinental Lightweight title but the Dane withdrew from the fight suffering from influenza.

Khan, who's last fight was a whirlwind 72-second blitz over Graham Earl, will now have a harder test against the Australian when he defend his Commonwealth title for the third time.

St Clair, the former IBF World Super-Featherweight Champion, has never been stopped in a 46-fight career and has extended former WBA World Light-World Champion Vivian Harris and the late Diego Corrales the full distance.

But by the way Khan is punching at the moment, he is determined to be the first to stop him.

Khan said: "Despite Kristjansen pulling out, I feel in fantastic shape at this point of my training. I'm punching real hard and just looking forward to getting in the ring on February 2nd to kick off my 2008 campaign towards the world title.

CC for the news, wow Frank really has pulled himself out of the shit for this one. This is a big risk fight and could go either way. Im surprised its happening. I said that Khan would have to fight an outstander if it wasnt Thaxton and this really is an outstander. Good luck to him !

not sure what i make of this....a super feather with no power.

its prob a step in the right direction at this stage of his careers but boy are they ducking Thaxton bigtime :-X

Here is his record...

http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php...7786&cat=boxer

and here is also a recent photo of thaxton ;D ......

http://www.hennessysports.com/upload...20feathers.jpg

You beat me to it Saddo another super feather moving up with no punch power why not a proper lightweight with a dig. i might be wrong was this guy penned to fight Scott Harrison at some point could be wrong though :-\

although this guy is by no means a heavy hitter it looks as though he has a great deal more power than a lot of Khan's opponents to date. But why is he avoiding Thaxton at all costs ;)



Anyway as I have always said from day one Khan will be found out and kayoed within 16 fights so maybe this is the one

St Clair has done more in terms of picking up a world title and fighting a lot better fighters than Thaxton. I dont see that Khan is avoiding him, I rekon he would fight him any time.

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Originally Posted by Mark TKO

although this guy is by no means a heavy hitter it looks as though he has a great deal more power than a lot of Khan's opponents to date. But why is he avoiding Thaxton at all costs ;)



Anyway as I have always said from day one Khan will be found out and kayoed within 16 fights so maybe this is the one

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;D

You know Franks mantra 'the right fights, at the right time'.

Thaxtons firmly in the 'who needs him' club isn't he?

No one will even remember Thaxton a few years down the line should Amir continue his stellar rise.

good point, i can see why people get angry by warren's matchups, but in the big scheme of things, Khan not fighting Thaxton isnt going to be much of a big deal. A lot of people said the same about Hatton, and the end of the day i believe that if a fighter wants a fight it will happen...eventually!

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Originally Posted by Steelie

No one will even remember Thaxton a few years down the line should Amir continue his stellar rise.

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Maybe so but if that rise involves ducking any real challanges and it turns out that he is the real deal he will be taking on all the big names well after his prime and coming up short ;)

ALA...

Naz... relied on power only in the end and came up short against Barrera... we never seen that in the early days of Naz the power was a bonus.

Hatton... hit and hold spoiling got him through his last fights... he never had them tactics pre KT and would never just rush in with no head movment or thought in the early days.

and Prob Joe... Although luckly for Joe he still has the skills at this late stage of his Career to compete... but how long will they last.

Good fight at late notice

Much better job then Warren did with getting Mitchell a fight at late notice anyway.

St Clair holds a win over Jackson Asiku....he's very decent

They offered Thaxton £100,000 and he turned it down. Where else is Thaxton going to earn more. If he was that confident about beating Amir, surely he would have signed? Afterall it would propell Thaxton onto bigger and better purses.

All i hear Thaxton do is call Kahn out when Kahn already has another fight signed. As soon as Kahn has ko'd his next opponent Thaxton will stay quiet....until Kahn is signed to fight someone else.

Didn't hear diddly squat from him after the Earl fight. Not until it emerged Kahn was fighting someone else anyway.

There really isn't anything in Thaxton's arsenal that suggest he has enough to beat Kahn. Other than decent power and fitness, he aint anywhere near Kahn's level.

Anyone else notice that boxrec reckons St Clare is fighting in Sydney the night before? What a guy.


Seriously though, his record looks no worse than Thaxton, I'm sure Warren would've definitely got Thaxton if Jon was willing to take what this fella is getting.

I think its a good replacement-it could have been worse because of the short notice!!

This guy has mixed it with some good guys and even went the distance with Corrales who at the time had record of 25-0 with 22 KO's.Corrales is about 6ft and this guy is 5 ft 4!!

If Thaxton was the replacement, ppl would be saying he never had time to prepare when Khan outclasses him!!
Thaxton was far from impressive against Dave Stewart and its obvious he is desperate for a big pay day.
I think there is still a chance Khan could be fighting Thaxton in April-it would be a big domestic fight and get alot of ppl interested!!

Has anyone noticed that Gary is supposed to fight in Oz on the 1st of Feb.? The day before this fight

Is there nobody except Thaxton that would have pleased you guys? Personally, I think Warren putting him in with a former world title challenger whose only two defeats in seven years have been narrow points defeats to South Africans in South Africa is a risky move, and St Clair will have plenty of guile, experience and boxing skills.

This is a great test for Amir, and we'll see whether his power can take out St Clair, and whether he has the speed to catch him often enough. Not to dismiss Thaxton, but I think St Clair is an entirely different challenge, and Amir will have a hard night's work with this guy.

Fair play to Frank, I would much rather see this than the Christiansen fight. Have never heard of him but I guess he had the ranking. St Clairs last fight was at lightweight by the way.

He is a decent boxer and if he can take a dig at lightweight then i think he could cause Amir some problems.

St Clair was due to fight Scott Harrison, for the FEATHERWEIGHT title, not too long ago.

Obviously a credible opponent, especially on paper, but Khan is gonna have a massive size advantage.

I think St. Clair is a credible opponent for a guy in their 16th fight. Think he probably has as good a resume as Thaxton if not better.

khan will kill him O0 pretty easily, khans got more power than anyone hes faced

FtGKfTFK i have removed your attached image as it really isnt needed here.

as your new you get the benifit of the doubt.... post it again and your gone mate ;)

Gairy is a super nice guy - he used to live in my town and go to my local pub on a Sunday morning to watch the fights from America. We got talking at the Judah/Mayweather fight around the time he was being dicked around by Scott Harrison who was having a lot of problems at the time.

But as much as I like the guy, this fight is a total LOCK for Amir Khan. Gairy is a slick counterpuncher but he couldn't crack an egg at featherweight let alone lightweight.

Khan will bully him and win handsomely. If people are deceived by St Clair's record then the odds on Amir might be quite tasty...

Seriously, it's re-mortgage the house time - coz this is as much a certainty as there will be this year.

I only have one thing to add, Gairy St. Clair is like 5'4" and Amir is 5'10" and outweighs him. Dont get me wrong Gairy is a decent fighter but this would be another Corrales type fight, he had some success early but once Diego got his timing down it was real hard for him to get in on that reach. He most likely will go the distance, maybe they are trying that first person to knock him out angle. This fight wont be close literally IMO.

Safe fight. Good fighter StClair but he is too small and too weak to compete with Khan.

After his impressive win over Earl he should be fighting Thaxton, Thaxton would make it a great fight. Just my opinion.

Gairy is good but thats a big step up. He will give a tough fight but won prob wont be able to take the heat.

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Originally Posted by Snakey

Gairy is good but thats a big step up. He will give a tough fight but won prob wont be able to take the heat.

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He's gonna get twatted. Say it like it is ;D

I think he should beat Thaxton then come across the pond where most of the lightweights are. No one is gonna travel to him if he doesnt have titles besides the commonwealth belt.

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Originally Posted by Greig

Gairy is a super nice guy - he used to live in my town and go to my local pub on a Sunday morning to watch the fights from America. We got talking at the Judah/Mayweather fight around the time he was being dicked around by Scott Harrison who was having a lot of problems at the time.

But as much as I like the guy, this fight is a total LOCK for Amir Khan. Gairy is a slick counterpuncher but he couldn't crack an egg at featherweight let alone lightweight.

Khan will bully him and win handsomely. If people are deceived by St Clair's record then the odds on Amir might be quite tasty...

Seriously, it's re-mortgage the house time - coz this is as much a certainty as there will be this year.

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Cheers for that mate ;)

Khan said he wants to fight Thaxton next:

Amir Khan: "After St Clair, Bring on Jon Thaxton"

By Mark Vester

Commonwealth lightweight champion Amir Khan (15-0, 12KOs) wants UK rival Jon Thaxton to keep one thing in mind - he's next on the hit list. Khan tells Setanta Sports that Thaxton is next after he disposes of Gary St Clair on February 2.

Khan and Thaxton were close to potential fight, but promoter Frank Warren claims Thaxton’s handlers turned down a career-high offer and countered with an even higher demand which caused the fight to fall apart.

“I’ve heard it all before. Most of my opponents have said they’re going to surprise me and that they’re going to beat me but John Thaxton’s just another guy who wants a big payday,” Khan said. ”I’m the best guy you can fight. I’m the biggest payday he could possible get in his whole boxing career and I’m going to give him the chance to get that payday. I’ll fight him. As soon as I beat St Clair, I’ll go back and fight Thaxton just to make things clear."

Khan knows that other opponents are out there, but he doesn't want people to say he avoided Thaxton by taking another fight. For the last few weeks, Thaxton has launched a media blitz by calling Khan out on a weekly basis in the press. The consistent trash talk has paid off.

”I never want to go on and have people later in my career saying, ‘there’s a guy that you didn’t fight – because you were scared’. I’m not scared of any opponent and I’m getting better all the time. In fact, the more I leave it the better I’ll be and the easier that fight against Thaxton will be. He is a good fighter but he’s on the way out,” Khan said.

Even if he wins, Khan knows most critics will not give him credit for beating Thaxton. But he wants to give the British boxing fans what they want by taking the fight.

“I’ll beat him, and whether I knock him out in the first round or the last round, people will say, ‘John Thaxton’s past it and he was only there for that payday’. But I’ll give him that chance just to let him see what he can do against Amir Khan. And I know that’ll be another good win for my career and it could be for the British title. We can put my Commonwealth title on the line, too, and it will be a good fight," Khan said.

“It’s a fight that the British people want to see. It’ll be a sell-out no matter what, because people want to see that fight. And I will beat him.”

St Clair reminds me of N'dou as he is the same kind of journeyman that Khan needs at this point of his career, he will get a good fight but will win a comfortable UD and gain some valuable experience before taking on some real contenders later in the year. Bring on Khan v Katsidis i say!

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Originally Posted by THE THIRD MAN

St Clair reminds me of N'dou as he is the same kind of journeyman that Khan needs at this point of his career, he will get a good fight but will win a comfortable UD and gain some valuable experience before taking on some real contenders later in the year. Bring on Khan v Katsidis i say!

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As dangerous as Katisidis is, i think Kahn would stand him on his head.

.....call me when Kahn decides to fight someone worth a damn

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Originally Posted by ono

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Originally Posted by THE THIRD MAN

St Clair reminds me of N'dou as he is the same kind of journeyman that Khan needs at this point of his career, he will get a good fight but will win a comfortable UD and gain some valuable experience before taking on some real contenders later in the year. Bring on Khan v Katsidis i say!

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As dangerous as Katisidis is, i think Kahn would stand him on his head.

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Do you mean that Khan would get ko'd after standing the ozzie on his head, and getting kicked in the mush by Katsidis? We all saw what happened to Willie Limond, and we know how much punishment Katsidis can take after the Earl fight, so I'd have to go Katsidis ko on this one at the present situation in both their careers.