Amir Khan vs Marco Antonio Barrera

Amir Khan solidified his potential as a world title challenger with a fifth round technical decision victory over Marco Antonio Barrera. It was a great victory for Khan but slightly tainted by an accidental headbutt in the opening round that opened a nasty cut on the Mexican’s forehead. The fight was eventually stopped when the bleeding didn’t cease.

Though he didn’t win on points as we tipped, all those backing Khan straight-up will have had something to cheer about this weekend.

Naseem Hamed’s “Baby Faced Assassin” Marco Antonio Barrera is coming to Manchester this Saturday night to kill off Amir Khan’s hopes of reaching the top of the fight game. The pair will do battle at the city’s M.E.N Arena in what will be a make or break fight for Bolton’s Olympic silver medalist.

Khan is eager to prove that he has learned the lessons from his devastating first round knock out defeat to Columbian Breidis Prescott last year. “This fight [against Barrera] has put me right back up there. I can answer all the critics, change everyone’s view and put myself in line for a mandatory shot at the world title,” says Khan.

Barrera says Khan has picked the wrong man as a “stepping stone”. The Mexican boxing legend has moved up to the lightweight division to realize his dream of becoming a four-weight world champion.

Before suffering the devastating first round knock out defeat against Prescott, Khan had clocked up 18 straight wins. His opponents all provided good target practice for the Bolton man, standing in front of him as he unloaded combinations with devastating speed and power. These victories had enabled Khan to build up his box office appeal as a knockout artist.

After the Prescott defeat, Khan sacked his Cuban coach Jorge Rubio – who had handpicked Prescott as an opponent for the boxing boy wonder – and went under the tutelage of renowned American boxing coach Freddie Roach. Khan is keen to talk about how much he has learnt under Roach while training at his Hollywood-based Wild Card Boxing Gym. “I had a great training camp in LA with Roach, everything is beginning to fall into place and I’m 100 percent up for this fight,” he says.

But while a good coach can improve a fighter’s technique, no amount of training can really strengthen a boxer’s punch resistance if he “ain’t got chin”. Roach says Khan made a “young man’s mistake” in his only knock out defeat. “If you watch the knockout in slow motion, it wasn’t so much that the other guy was a big puncher. It was more that Amir ran right into the shot, full force. When I watched the fight the first time I thought it was a right hand which caused it but it was the left hook. When Amir throws a left hook to the body he has a tendency to reach for it and when he reached for it he dropped his hands, sending out an invitation. He’s not doing that any more.”

Khan’s promoter, Frank Warren, obviously feels confident that any flaws in his young star’s skills have been sufficiently ironed out in order for him to handle Barrera. Pundits who put their cash on a Barrera victory will be betting against the judgment of the experienced fight promoter who will not want to put such a marketable commodity in peril at this stage of the young man’s career. Khan is also four inches taller and 13 years younger than his Mexican foe whose best wins came in the featherweight division. Bookmakers are making Khan the favorite. For example, Bet365.com offers odds of 8/13 on a Khan win while punters can obtain odds of 6/5 on a Barrera victory.

Barrera is unlikely to have the hand speed to really trouble Khan. But he will doubtless have worked out a game plan to defeat his younger foe using all the experience from his 72 professional fights. Barrera is in a different class to any of the opponents that Khan has previously faced. I believe that he will have the ring craft to evade Khan’s explosive combinations.

I expect the fight to go the distance. While Khan will outgun his Mexican foe he will not yet have the skills to knock him out. This makes me favour a points victory for Khan, who is boxing in a city near his home town. Centrebet Sports is offering odds of 17/10 on Khan winning by decision.