Amir Khan continues to fly the British flag in Vegas - but who else has shone on the Strip?

The latest chapter in Amir Khan's Las Vegas story is written this weekend but before his bout with Devon Alexander, Sky Sports casts an eye over British flag-bearers fighting on the grandest stage.

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Amir Khan

Khan has experienced the blur of emotions on the Las Vegas Strip that are a rite of passage for an elite fighter – from the triumph of having his hand raised on the grandest stage to being in the grips of the referee’s bear-hug ending a fight, blearily unable to hear the rampant reaction of thousands of wild fans.

Four years ago he debuted in the Nevada desert, beating future Floyd Mayweather Jr opponent Marcos Maidana, something which could bolster Khan’s hopes that his latest Vegas headline act could propel him into arguably Britain's biggest Vegas bonanza against the pound-for-pound king.

Khan returned to the city in 2011 to knock out Zab Judah but would not always experience such elation. After following in other Brits' footsteps to earn that decisive Vegas victory Khan experienced the harsh realities of prizefighting, losing his consciousness at the swift and violent hands of Danny Garcia in his third Mandalay Bay outing.

A reborn Khan beat Luis Collazo in the heralded MGM Grand – maybe the most iconic venue among a Strip of hallowed grounds – but he is not the first Brit to make the dramatic journey for a Stateside scrap...

Ricky Hatton

Even more so than his Manchester mauling of Kostya Tszyu, Ricky Hatton’s legacy may be remembered by the legions of fanatical supporters which turned Las Vegas into a boozy, chanting English pub every time the Hitman crossed the Atlantic. Boasting a support like no other, the everyman Hatton wasn’t always able to send his compatriots home happy but ended his career with a 3-2 record in Vegas.

A 2007 IBF and IBO light-welterweight title win over Juan Urango at the Paris Hotel began Hatton’s arguably unrivalled Vegas adventure. A points victory set up a unification fight with Jose Luis Castillo in which a Hatton body-shot delivered the WBC belt at the Thomas & Mack Centre.

Hatton next found himself at the MGM Grand as the showbiz and the luxury stepped up – but unfortunately so did the competition. Floyd Mayweather Jr, despite a 30,000-strong army of Brits filling out the weigh-ins and the arena, proved a class above inside the ropes, stopping Hatton in the tenth.

Returning to the scene of the crime, Hatton captured an elusive win at the MGM by forcing Paulie Malignaggi’s team to throw in the towel. Six months later at the same venue, Manny Pacquiao delivered a brutal two-round shellacking including three knockdowns before Hatton’s short night was halted.

The Mancunian’s Vegas memories may, arguably, centre around his flattened body staring up at the bright lights while pound-for-pound greats Mayweather and Pacquiao celebrated but Hatton’s Sin City presence rivals any British boxer of any era.

Naseem Hamed

For such a balletic, charismatic competitor for whom theatrics were as much part of the fight as throwing punches, it is perhaps a surprise that Hamed only graced Las Vegas once. That fateful evening, on the grandest stage at the MGM, was taken notoriously lightly by Hamed despite its apparent allure to a character known for magic carpets, somersaults and expensive cars during entrances.

Hamed was, the story goes, woefully overweight in the months leading up to his 2001 bout with Marco Antonio Barrera, who trained astutely in a bid to end the Sheffield man’s 35-0 record. A desperate weight cut, not befitting of the fight capital of the world, ended Hamed’s streak and effectively his career. One of Britain’s brightest talents and colourful characters only managed the Nevada pilgrimage once, and it was to his detriment.

Lennox Lewis

The last ever undisputed heavyweight champion sought redemption in Las Vegas three times, each time successfully avenging his only career defeats under the Vegas spotlights.

A unanimous decision win over Levi Billups in 1992 in Caesars Palace could not prepare Lewis for the legacy he would eventually leave in the city. A year later, he defended his WBC title at the Thomas & Mack Centre with a points win over Tony Tucker.

Before the London-born, Toronto-raised banger made a third venture to Vegas, he was on the wrong end of a classic upset. Oliver McCall shockingly handed him a first career loss at Wembley in 1994 and it would take Lewis three years to rematch his conqueror in boxing’s grandest city on a famous fight night, remembered largely in sympathy for McCall.

Not long out of rehab, he barely threw a punch, refused to return to his corner between rounds and was famously reduced to tears. Lewis stopped him in five.

Lewis’ second Vegas rematch saw him crowned the undisputed heavyweight champion in 1999. After previously drawing with Evander Holyfield, the Thomas & Mack Center rematch eight months later was a unanimous decision win for Lewis.

A year later, stripped of the WBA belt, he beat David Tua in Mandalay Bay but Lewis’ successful Vegas record was set in stone by beating Hasim Rahman at the second attempt. Rahman’s earlier stoppage of Lewis remains one of boxing’s biggest shocks, largely attributed to the Brit’s lack of focus going into the bout. Second time around, Lewis won back his championships with a fourth-round knock-out at Mandalay Bay.

He may have gone on to remarkably stop Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko elsewhere but Las Vegas remains the place where arguably Britain’s greatest ever boxer rectified the only flaws he ever showed.

Frank Bruno

Bruno fought in Vegas twice, both times against a Mike Tyson in his prime, and both times he was viciously sent packing back across the pond. In 1989, after Tyson’s legal trouble scuppered the prospect of him at Wembley, he blasted Bruno out after five rounds in Vegas’ Hilton. A rematch seven years later would be the last of Bruno’s career, he suffered a quick stoppage at the MGM Grand and retired citing head trauma – much of it down to Tyson’s beatings.

Joe Calzaghe

It took the undisputed, undefeated super-middleweight champion 44 consecutive wins to finally make the journey to Vegas, but when Joe Calzaghe did, he added an all-time legend to his lengthy victims list. Bernard Hopkins was able to knock down the Welshman but Calzaghe roared back for a split decision win in his penultimate, and arguably most impressive, bout.