Amir Khan

Skysports.com profiles light welterweight king Amir Khan ahead of his clash with Lamont Peterson.

Amir Khan burst into the public consciousness when he became the youngest British boxing medallist at the Olympics, winning a silver medal in the lightweight category at the 2004 Games in Athens. Having beaten the man who denied him gold in Greece - Mario Kindelan of Cuba - in his final amateur bout, Khan opted to join the professional ranks in 2005. After a series of one-sided wins, Khan got his first title shot in July 2007 when he fought Willie Limond for the Commonwealth lightweight strap and, after being knocked down by the Scot, he got up to stop his opponent after eight rounds. Following three successful defences of the belt against Scott Lawton, Graham Earl and Gairy St Clair, he added the WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title to his collection after stopping Dane Martin Kristjansen in seven rounds at the Reebok Arena in April 2008. In the aftermath of the fight Khan spilt with his trainer Oliver Harrison and, after an explosive win over Irish warrior Michael Gomez - in which he was again forced to climb off the canvas - he announced that Cuban Jorge Rubio would his new full-time trainer. Rubio handpicked Breidis Prescott as his new charge's next opponent, but it was to prove an ill-advised selection as the dangerous Colombian - who arrived in England with a record of 17 knock-outs from 19 fights - inflicted a brutal and comprehensive defeat on Khan - still the only loss on his record. After landing a series of huge shots, Prescott closed out a stoppage victory with just 57 seconds of the first round gone, leaving Khan's well-documented world title ambitions in tatters. But the defeat was to prove a valuable learning curve for the man from Bolton who immediately parted company with Rubio and headed Stateside to join forces with the well-respected Freddie Roach. After a resounding comeback success against Oisin Fagan, Khan stepped up a level in class when it was confirmed he would take on three-weight and seven-time world champion Marco Antonio Barrera in March 2009. He went on to beat the Mexican on a technical decision - winning by an emphatic margin on all three scorecards after his opponent was deemed in no position to continue after sustaining a cut following a clash of heads. Four months later Khan got his first world title shot at the age of just 22 and took it in impressive style as he won a convincing unanimous decision against durable Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik to secure the WBA light welterweight crown. He defended the belt in emphatic style with a ruthless first-round demolition of American Dmitry Salita in Newcastle later in the year, before making his American debut in May of 2010 with a patient and mature 11th round stoppage of Paulie Malignaggi at Madison Square Garden in New York. Arguably the defining victory of Khan's career to date came seven months later when he defended his WBA strap for the third time with a unanimous points triumph over big-hitting Argentine Marcos Maidana following a memorable 12-round tear-up that was later awarded the Boxing Writers Association of America's gong for Fight of the Year. Khan returned to Britain to take on undefeated Irishman Paul McCloskey in his next bout and emerged clearly victorious on the scorecards after six rounds with his opponent unable to continue having sustained a cut following an unintentional head-butt. In July 2007 he unified the IBF and WBA light welterweight titles in Las Vegas with a stoppage of Zab Judah, the American cut down by a vicious body shot in fifth round, and will now put both on the line against Lamont Peterson in Washington.