Amir Khan becomes welterweight champion, outclassing Luis Collazo

British-Pakistani boxer hopes his impressive victory would be enough to put him against Floyd Mayweather next.

Amir Khan (L) of Britain connects on Luis Collazo of the US during their welterweight fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. PHOTO: REUTERS

LAS VEGAS:
British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan earned the silver welterweight title after outclassing former titleholder Luis Collazo in an impressive win at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night, ESPN reported.

This was Khan’s first fight for the welterweight title and he won it by unanimous decision on the undercard. Khan, a former unified junior welterweight titlist, had stepped into the arena after a year-long hiatus from boxing.

He won the match scoring three knockdowns and outboxing Collazo with 119-104, 119-104 and 117-106. However, the match wasn’t without some worrisome moments, the ESPN report said.


Khan hoped his victory would be enough of a statement to put himself against undefeated welterweight Flyod Mayweather Jr in the next fight. On Saturday night, Mayweather had bypassed him and had elected to fight Marcos Maidana instead.

Mayweather’s victory against Maidana has set him up for either a possible rematch with Maidana or a showdown against Khan.

“He [Mayweather] is getting older and showing a lot of mistakes that he didn't used to do. It is a great time to catch him,” said Khan.

Speaking to the media earlier during this week, Khan had said that his next fight would be a “nice present” for his daughter who is soon to be born. “It is a present for everybody. We have so much support in Pakistan as well as all the Muslim people all over the world,” he had said.
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