{"id":9543,"date":"2007-12-10T11:17:09","date_gmt":"2007-12-10T11:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2007\/12\/10\/khan-is-our-ray-of-hope-says-warren\/"},"modified":"2007-12-10T11:17:09","modified_gmt":"2007-12-10T11:17:09","slug":"khan-is-our-ray-of-hope-says-warren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2007\/12\/10\/khan-is-our-ray-of-hope-says-warren\/","title":{"rendered":"Khan is our \u2018Ray\u2019 of hope, says Warren"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Boxer comes of age in 72 second demolition of Earl<\/h3>\n
\"\"IT WAS billed as Amir Khan\u2019s toughest test as a professional boxer, but it took just 72 seconds for the 21-year-old Bolton sensation to silence his critics.<\/strong> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Khan, who celebrated his 21st<\/sup> birthday on Saturday night, defended his Commonwealth lightweight title for the second time against 29-year-old Graham Earl and while much had been written about the boxing calibre of Earl, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking Khan hadn\u2019t paid much notice. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Just one minute and 12 seconds into the fight, Earl was left dazed and confused after a flurry of quick unstoppable punches as Khan swarmed all over his opponent.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Clearly unable to continue referee Howard Foster stopped the fight and Khan jumped up into the air with delight. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

It was a performance which deserved applause, and for Khan it proved his hunger for success is as strong as it has ever been. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

He claimed he would fight for a world title “tomorrow” after outclassing a boxer eight years his senior. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“It’s up to (promoter) Frank Warren – but I’ll fight for a world title tomorrow and prove everyone wrong,” Khan told ITV1. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“I wasn’t surprised (at the quick stoppage), I’d been training hard for this fight. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“I want the number-one spot and he was the number one in Britain, and I wanted to beat him. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“I knew he was hurt after the first knockdown and I wanted to put the pressure on.” <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Khan added: “After the first knockdown I saw his eyes – he didn’t want any more. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“He was gone and I put the pressure on.” <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The youngster revealed he had been spurred by what he saw as disrespect from Earl. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“I was fighting the best fighter in my career and the way I took him out in the first round surprised me,” he said. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“When there’s someone there disrespecting me, calling me a kid, it hurts me. It motivated me and I’ve proved a point to all the critics. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“Graham is a great fighter, he’s been a world champion, been the European champion – so for me to beat someone like that in the first round is great.” <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Frank Warren – who confirmed Khan’s next fight would be on February 2 – admitted he was shocked at the speed of the victory. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“I never expected that at all,” he said. “I thought it would be a tough fight and get to 10 rounds. It was a phenomenal performance. He’s made a statement. Fantastic.” <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And he likened Khan to former Olympic gold medallist Sugar Ray Leonard.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“He’s got a bit of a way to go, but I believe he’s going to be the goods, I really do,” said Warren. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“God knows what he’ll be like at 24 or 25. He’ll be something phenomenal.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“It reminded me of looking at a young Sugar Ray Leonard,” he added. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“He fought a guy ranked the best in the country with a wealth of experience. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“And Amir just didn’t let him get into it. It was a cracking left hook he caught him with and the finishing power, the hand speed, it is all coming together.” <\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boxer comes of age in 72 second demolition of Earl IT WAS billed as Amir Khan\u2019s toughest test as a professional boxer, but it took just 72 seconds for the 21-year-old Bolton sensation to silence his critics. Khan, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Saturday night, defended his Commonwealth lightweight title for the second […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}