Boxing: Birthday Boy Khan to Up the Distance

Amir Khan is likely to collect his first belt as a professional in the main support bout of tonight's ExCeL Centre bill in London's Docklands when he steps up to the 10-round level for the first time and takes on the light-punching but durable Frenchman Rachid Drilzane for the IBF inter-continental light-welterweight title.

Nobody is pretending the belt is anything more than a minor trophy for emerging contenders for the bigger prizes, but Khan is looking forward to the opportunity to add a first tangible reward to the cabinet full of trophies and medals that he won during an illustrious amateur career that culminated with an Olympic silver medal at the 2004 Games in Athens.

"This will be only my 10th fight and I am already moving up to championship level. It will be brilliant fighting for a belt," said Khan. "I am really progressing well with my trainer, Oliver Harrison, and I know that I am ready for bigger tests. As soon as I was asked 'Do you want to go for a 10-rounder?' I said yes, because I know that I am ready for tougher fights.

"I am getting bigger and stronger and my boxing is getting better. There is a lot more that I have been doing and practising in the gym that nobody has seen in any of my fights yet. I am still concentrating on delivering my shots with more power and picking my punches more effectively.

"There is a part of me that wants to be in there, fighting for genuine world titles right now. But this fight against Drilzane will show I am going in the right direction. I am aiming to put in a top-class performance to show everybody my time for the big fights is getting nearer all the time."

Khan, who turned 20 yesterday, has never fought beyond six rounds but expects few problems from the 28-year-old Drilzane even if he must go the distance. The Frenchman has won 10 of his 13 contests but he has never fought outside his homeland and, perhaps more significantly, has never scored a stoppage win.

Meanwhile, there is no doubt where those bigger belts are this weekend with Jermain Taylor returning to his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, to defend his WBA, WBC and WBO middleweight titles for the first time, against Kassim Ouma. "There's no pressure on me," Taylor said. "I guess there is pressure to go in there and look good and to win. But I'm excited about being home. It's good to be home."