Amir Khan is a champion, but Pacquiao is the champ

Khan, only 22, won a landslide unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards 120-108, 118-111, 118-111. The Bolton boy who has become a man enjoyed partisan support from many in the 10,000 crowd and in an enthralling fight, played out at a breakneck pace, displayed all his athletic skills.
It was thrilling fare from Khan whose lightning hand speed and fitness gave him the advantages to go well ahead on points in the first ten rounds.

The champion rallied in the closing rounds but could not land a decisive punch on the elusive Briton, Kotelnik throwing everything he had in the final two stanzas.
Khan’s thrilling hand speed told from the opening round as, light on his feet and circling, Kotelnik was forced to eat the British fighter’s jabs and left-right combinations. It set a pattern for the battle.
This was a more composed, more considered fighter who looked to score and then move out of trouble. It must be so with Khan’s vulnerable chin, although he took most of Kotelnik’s best shots in this contest.
Khan’s defence looked stronger, he is moving better from the waist, but there are still signs of rawness about Khan at times, but for the record he did not look overawed by his step up in weight and class against Kotelnik, 31, fighting in his fifth world title bout. Subtle changes will be worked on by the master tactician and trainer Freddie Roach in his Hollywood Wild Card Gym.
Yet Khan has come of age. Now all he has to do is keep improving and stay at world level. As Roach put it. “I’m delighted for him. There are still things we can work on. But Amir will only get better.”
Khan moved to 21 wins 1 loss; Kotelnik to 32 wins (13 KOs), 1 draw, and his third loss. Khan must now try to lure Ricky Hatton back for another fight.
Before the main event, Enzo Maccarinelli, the former World Boxing Organisation cruiserweight champion, from Swansea, admitted that he is likely to call time on his career at the age of 28 after being stopped by the unbeaten Russian Denis Lebedev.
The Welshman was hurt initially by a right hook followed by a sustained left hook assault on the ropes, the contest ended 2 mins 20 seconds into the third round by referee Terry O’Connor. Maccarinelli has now lost three of his last four fights. "I'm not sure if I have got it any more. That may be the end," he said.
Frank Warren’s triumvirate of Beijing Olympians all came through their third professional outings with strong finishes against limited opponents. Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders despatched their opponents in the second round of four round bouts, while Olympic gold medallist James DeGale easily picked apart Irishman Ciaran Healy in the first round.
Earlier, in an entertaining crowd-pleaser between Anthony Small and home fighter Matthew Hall, for the vacant British light-middleweight and Hall’s Commonwealth title, stylist Small – who entered the ring to the tunes of Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’, dressed in suit and trilby – stopped Hall in the eighth round after a barrage of punches rendered the Mancunian defenceless. Referee Richie Davies had no option but to halt the contest