NEWCASTLE, England — Amir Khan defeated Dmitriy Salita in just 76 seconds to retain his World Boxing Association (WBA) light-welterweight title here at the Metro Radio Arena on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Briton ended the unbeaten record of New Yorker Salita after flooring the challenger twice before finishing the fight with a left hook to the chin to complete a speedy first title defence.
WBA champion Khan has declared he wants to fight in America in 2010 and this victory once again showed how the 2004 Athens Olympic silver medallist is improving since losing his unbeaten record last year.
Salita, born in Ukraine but who moved to New York in his childhood, claimed he would expose Khan's punch resistance, but there was no repeat of the bout in September last year when the Briton was blown away in just 54 seconds by Colombian Breidis Prescott.
Instead, it was Salita who was overwhelmed in the first round.
Salita looked mesmerised as Khan launched his ferocious assault and the New Yorker was first dumped on the canvas by a left-right combination.
After taking a standing count of eight, Salita continued but moments later was in more trouble as Khan unloaded a blizzard of punches with the challenger trapped in the corner.
Salita was given another standing count before Khan finished the bout with a sweet left hook that prompted Puerto Rican referee Luis Pavon to step in.
Khan, who captured the WBA title with a commanding points win over Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik in July, spent the prelude to his first world title defence against mandatory challenger Salita saying how much he wanted to box in America, where he prepares for fights at the gym of trainer Freddie Roach in Los Angeles.
Khan have been looking beyond Salita, but he did not look distracted in the ring as he went about his business in quick fashion.
Salita dropped to 30 wins, one defeat and one draw while Khan improved his professional record to 22 victories and one loss.
"It was very explosive," Khan, a rejuvenated boxer under Roach's guidance, told BBC Radio Five Live.
"The fight was just what we asked for, what Freddie asked me to do. We had too much power for this guy.
"I'm a growing young man and developing as a man," Khan added.
"Freddie said to take it easy, pick the right shots and you'll take this guy out and we did.
"Freddie is a great trainer, he's like a father figure to me and to have him in my corner means a lot.
"Everyone knows I'm a hard-working fighter and if you put the hard work in you're going to get the benefits.
"After the first shot I could see his legs buckling and I just had to take my time. I knew he was going."
He added: "It was a blessing in disguise what happened against Prescott, I got beat and came back stronger. I'm getting stronger and quicker."
Roach, asked to rate Khan's performance, said: "I would give him an A+.
"We've been working on that power and the fight was really over after that first punch."
There were many who feared for Khan's career after his loss to Prescott but he returned to form with a victory over Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera before defeating Kotelnik.
Earlier on the Khan bill, unbeaten Briton Kevin Mitchell out-boxed Prescott to earn a unanimous points victory, 119-110, 118-111, 117-111 in an eliminator for the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) lightweight title.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
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