Dangerous St Clair Provides Khan's Toughest Test

Amir Khan will face a fighter who has been a world champion for the first time when he defends his Commonwealth lightweight title and his undefeated record as a professional against the former IBF super-featherweight title holder Gairy St Clair at Excel Arena in London on February 2.

The 33-year-old St Clair is a Guyana-born Australian who has never been stopped and lost his world title only in November 2006. His reputation for toughness is underlined by the fact that he has been the distance with the former world champions Vivian Harris and the late Diego Corrales.

The 21-year-old Khan was scheduled to fight Denmark's Martin Kristjansen for the WBO Intercontinental title but the Dane was forced to withdraw from the contest last week because he was suffering with flu. But, like Kristjansen, St Clair is a fighter of proven international calibre who will represent another step up in class.

The spectacular 72-second knockout of Graham Earl in his last fight has given Khan the confidence to speculate about his prospects of winning a world title before the end of the year and he believes he can become the first man to stop St Clair in the Australian's 13 years as a professional.

"Despite Kristjansen pulling out I feel in fantastic shape at this point in my training. I'm punching really hard and just looking forward to getting in the ring on February 2. It was pretty tough with the change of opponent but at the end of the day I have a job to do and I've got to get on with it and focus on St Clair.

"In my last fight against Graham Earl I didn't even break sweat but I'm expecting a much tougher fight against St Clair. He has been in with some great names like Harris and Corrales. If he has been able to make these two go the distance, I know that I've got a hard fight on my hands. Obviously the motivation is to be the first to stop him - which would look fantastic on my record - but I've also got great boxing skills to back it up with. There is no way that I'm going to let him ruin my year and my ambitions."

Khan, at 5ft 10in, is about six inches taller than St Clair and the Australian's best days may be behind him. But he is a long way from being a "shot" fighter and will be in fighting shape as he was already in training for a fight in Australia. Khan would be well advised to study the video tapes carefully when he sits down to prepare his strategy with his trainer, Oliver Harrison.

The promoter Frank Warren last night had words of warning for his young star, saying his preparations had to be meticulous. "St Clair is a big step up for Amir and the toughest opponent he has faced in his career so far. He is a former world champion and would be a great scalp for Amir's CV. He is a tough and experienced fighter and his record shows that he is no mug. This could be a really dangerous fight for Amir," he said.