AMIR Khan has been warned he must wait for his world title shot after Michael Gomez exposed more flaws in the Bolton 21-year-old's armoury in a ferocious five-round war in Birmingham on Saturday night.
A sustained assault from Khan finally persuaded referee John Keane to stop the extraordinarily brave Gomez at 2.32 of the fifth round, but not before the favourite had hit the canvas for the second time in his professional career. Khan, who had looke
d on course for a quick finish when he decked Gomez with a big right hand in the opening round, was toppled by a left uppercut to the jaw from Gomez in the second.
Although Khan rose quickly to his feet and showed few ill-effects as he got back to dominating a high-tempo contest, his performance persuaded promoter Frank Warren there is no need to rush his major asset into world title contention. "Amir is still not ready to fight for a world title," said Warren. "He needs some more schooling. There's no doubt he's a got a big heart but sometimes he fights with his head rather than his heart and that's what we've got to work on.
"We just need to put the brakes on a little bit. There's no timetable. I could make a world title fight tomorrow but it's all about waiting for the fight moment. Joe Calzaghe was 25 before he fought for his first world title."
Khan admitted his fourth Commonwealth lightweight title defence had been his toughest, and agreed with Warren that his learning curve is far from over. "I should have listened more," he said. "Sometimes I do fight with my heart rather than my head. But these are exactly the type of fights I need at this stage in my career.
"Michael Gomez will give anyone a tough fight and I have a lot of respect for him. He caught me with a few good shots but I took them and I came back. I've learned more from this fight than if I had won it in one round."
Khan is likely to return to the ring on 6 September.
The full article contains 370 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
