Lawton to Get Khan While He Can

In the build-up to Amir Khan's first defense of his Commonwealth lightweight title at the Nottingham Arena tonight, his opponent, Scott Lawton, has seemed a forgotten man amid the champion's talk of his desire to beat Jon Thaxton, the British champion, and becoming a world champion in his next five fights.

The 31-year-old Lawton insists he should not be taken lightly and that he will show conclusively that Khan, at just 20, is a long way from being the finished article. He claims to have made the 9st 9lb lightweight limit easily, and that he will be physically stronger than any fighter the champion has met so far in his 13 winning fights as a professional. "It is probably a good thing that I am fighting him now," Lawton said. "In a couple of years he may be just about untouchable. But he is still making mistakes. As well as that, I am not sure that he is certain about his stamina. He tends to switch off, perhaps to conserve energy. When he tries to do that, I will be staying with him, forcing the pace.

"I promote my own shows in Stoke and I could have made as much as I am getting fighting Khan if I had gone in with other fighters. So this is not a question of me taking the fight simply as a pay-day. I am going in with him because, at this stage in his career, I believe that I can win."

Khan will need to improve on his last performance against Willie Limond in July, when the Scot had him down and badly shaken before the Bolton fighter took him out in the eighth. "I have been working on my defense, keeping my left hand higher and not lunging in with my weight on the front foot," Khan said. "The fight against Limond was a wake-up call for me. Me and my trainer Oliver [Harrison] have analyzed what went wrong and have been working on my mistakes. As well as that, I have now got a nutritionist, so I am eating properly, and I have been working on building up my strength."