Khan set for Salita title defence - newsweekly's Blog

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Khan set for Salita title defence

Posted on September 17, 2009 at 01:15 PM.

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Khan has won 21 of his 22 professional fights

British boxer Amir Khan is set to make the first defence of his WBA light-welterweight title against Dmitriy Salita, BBC Sport understands.

Khan's promoter Frank Warren is in talks with Salita's camp and the fight is expected to happen on 5 December.

A venue for the clash is yet to be decided as Khan prepares to defend the title he won in July when he beat Andreas Kotelnik on points.

Ukrainian-born Salita is unbeaten in 31 fights and is the mandatory challenger.

The 27-year-old is nicknamed 'The Star of David' due to his Jewish roots and has 16 knockouts to his name.

He made his professional debut in 2001 and last fought in May, defeating American Raul Munoz on points.

"I know quite a lot about Khan. He was a good amateur and a very good technician for his age, so I expect a good fight," Salita told the Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

"He has good hand speed and movement, but there are holes in his defence and offence and I'm very confident of winning.

"I have never lost, while he was beaten quite recently, but let the best man win."

Khan, 22, defeated Ukrainian Kotelnik in Manchester with a fine performance and has lost only once in 22 professional fights.

That defeat came in September 2008 when he was knocked out inside the first minute of his WBO intercontinental lightweight title defence by Colombia's Breidis Prescott.

Bolton boxer Khan recently spoke about the possibility of fighting fellow Brit Ricky Hatton, while it was also rumoured that he was offered the chance to meet stablemate, and the recognised pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, Manny Pacquiao.

But it would appear that Khan has turned down those opportunities to make a mandatory defence against Salita.