Boxing: Khan to Turn Professional

Along with Kelly Holmes and Matthew Pinsent, Amir Khan was perhaps the highest-profile British success story of the 2004 Olympics as he stunned hardened pundits and wowed television audiences by winning the lightweight silver medal at the age of 17.

It was always a question of when, rather than if, he would turn professional and the confirmation of his decision to do so is imminent after he pulled out of the English Amateur Boxing Association championships last night.

The precociously talented Khan was due to fight on Saturday in the quarter-finals of the ABAs in Lowestoft and his withdrawal was supposedly because of a row over ticket allocations for his supporters. But in fact a deal is understood to have been signed with Britain's leading promoter Frank Warren.

Neither Warren nor Khan was available for comment last night but they have spent months in negotiations, when Khan was also approached by other British promoters. He is rumoured to have been offered a huge cash advance by Barry Hearn and was courted by the former world featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, and American backers also expressed an interest.

Warren was insistent that he would not give Khan the sort of much-criticised £1m contract granted by the BBC to the 2000 Olympic super-heavyweight champion Audley Harrison. Whereas Harrison was free to choose his opponents, Khan's career will be closely supervised, with decision-making over potential fights taken out of his hands. And, although he has learned the sport under the tutelage of his Bury Amateur Boxing Association coach Mick Jelley, principal responsibility for shaping his progress is likely to be handed to the Manchester trainer Oliver Harrison.

Khan has been hyped as one of the greatest talents to have emerged from the British amateur ranks after he surpassed all logical expectation to reach the Olympic final, where he lost to one of the outstanding performers of recent years, the Cuban Mario Kindelán. His mature handling of the media also had him quickly identified as a potential professional star.

Warren said immediately after the Athens games that Khan would be unwise to stay amateur, but the young fighter insisted he wanted to continue in the unpaid ranks for four more years to fulfil his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. Warren's argument was that there was little point in delaying the chance to cash in on commercial opportunities for the sake of medals.

An audience of eight million tuned in on a Sunday lunchtime to watch Khan's Olympic final appearance, and considerable publicity has surrounded his subsequent appearances. As well as the ABAs on Saturday, officials were hoping he would be available to box for Britain in next month's Four Nations international, a competition which would include Cuba and a possible rematch with Kindelán.

But it seems likely Khan will now have only one further outing as an amateur when his club, Bury ABC, stages a fund-raising night at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium next month. Thereafter he will fight as a professional on Sky, assuming the company chooses to renew its contract with Warren when it is renegotiated in the summer.

If Khan is to fulfil his potential his skills need to be tightened up considerably. One of Britain's leading fighters, Ricky Hatton, the World Boxing Union light- welterweight champion, said after watching Khan in Athens: "He has a lot of ability but he jumps in with his head too high. Working in a professional gym will help him to improve defensively, which is absolutely vital."

The Manchester fighter urged Khan to make a speedy transition to the paid ranks so that the youngster's impetuosity and amateurish traits would not become too ingrained.

Hatton also turned professional at 18 and has become the highest-paid fighter in the country - indeed, he will be recognised as the No1 in his division if he can overcome Kostya Tszyu at the MEN Arena on June 4. A possible debut for Khan would be on the Hatton undercard that night but, with the fight already assured of being a 21,000 sell-out, Warren might choose to showcase Khan at an earlier date.

The signing will represent a personal triumph for Warren, who has been under increasing pressure from Sky in recent months to stage marquee fights for the armchair audience. He delivered a world heavyweight title challenge for Danny Williams against Vitali Klitschko in December in addition to staging Hatton-Tszyu, and signing Khan will significantly strengthen his hand as the sport's major player in Britain.