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Amir Khan was born in Bolton, England on 8th December 1986, and is currently the WBA light-welterweight champion of the world with a current record standing at 21-1 (15). After being a highly touted prospect he suffered a brutal defeat, but has now risen to prominence on the world stage and will look to build on his success in the upcoming years as he works with trainer Freddie Roach.

Amateur career

At just 17 years of age, Amir Khan represented Great Britain in the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he won the silver medal in the lightweight category. This was the pinnacle of an amateur career that resulted in a junior Olympic title, three junior ABA titles and a senior ABA title, all before the age of 18.

Khan was beaten in Athens by amateur great, Cuba's Mario Kindelan. Khan though got his revenge in what was to become his last ever amateur bout, by beating Kindelan 19-13 in his hometown of Bolton, watched by millions in the U.K. via terrestrial T.V.

Following what was a tremendous Olympic tournament for someone so young, Khan's signature on a professional contract was the hottest property in boxing. A deal was struck with Britain's most successful promoter Frank Warren and Khan's professional journey was about to begin.....

Turning pro

The job of turning Khan into a professional fighter was given to Oliver Harrison, a young trainer, although regarded in British boxing circles as one of the best in the business.

Khan's career began on July 2005 with a 1st round TKO of David Bailey. Another 17 wins followed, although Khan seemed to be retaining some of his old amateur habits and was getting increasingly criticized over his lack of defense and suspect chin after getting knocked down against Willie Limond and Michael Gomez, decent pugs, although only really pumped up super-featherweights. Finally, Khan and Harrison parted company and after some consideration, Cuba's Jorge Rubio was given the gig.

Next up for Khan was an undefeated pug from Colombia called Breidis Prescott, recommended by Rubio as a credible, yet not too dangerous next opponent. Just before the fight with Prescott, team Khan signed a deal with Sky Box-Office to broadcast future bouts on a pay-per-view format. This raised more than a few eyebrows as Khan was still relatively unproven as a professional.

First defeat- The making of a champion

After just 54 seconds into his Box-Office debut, things went monumentally wrong, knocked out by a huge right hand -left hook combination that would have flattened a horse. At a crossroads, team Khan were forced to make a series of decisions that would either make or break the Brits career. First up, the acrimonious departure of Rubio. Next up was to relocate to Hollywood to train in the famous Wild Card gym, with the respected Freddie Roach given the task in turning Khan's career around.

First fight on the comeback trail was a 2nd round demolition job on Irishman Oisin Fagan. Even at this early stage Khan was showing signs of improvement, especially in defense. Next up was a piece of pure genius match-making; The legend Marco Antonio Barrera was to travel to Manchester to face Khan in a world title eliminator. The outcome was a 5th round TKO when Barrera couldn't continue due to a cut above the eye. The truth was, Khan was just too young and too strong for the once great Barerra.

Khan then moved up to light-welter and in 12 rounds, using his superior speed and technical smarts, outclassed WBA champ Andriy Kotelnik to become Britain's youngest world champ since Naseem Hamed a decade earlier.

The Future of Amir Khan: How Good Will He Be?

In only three fights, Amir Khan, under the tutelage of Freddie Roach, has evolved into a world champion with the potential to become a boxing superstar. With the talent laden light-welter division full of young guns like Devon Alexander, Timothy Bradley and Marcus Maidana, the world truly is Khan's oyster. Throw in a potential mega fight with fellow countryman Ricky Hatton and the future really does look bright and with the question marks hanging over his chin, it's also going to be an exciting ride for his growing army of fans.

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