Khan Hits Peak With 4.4m Viewers

The British Boxing Board of Control says it will closely monitor who is selected as Amir Khan's next opponent as a professional after he blew away the Londoner David Bailey in the first round of his professional debut at the Bolton Arena on Saturday night.

ITV reported a peak viewing figure of 4.4 million for its broadcast on Saturday night while Khan was fighting, its best figure of the evening, with an average 3.1 million for the whole show. The bill had been hit by the late withdrawal of Danny Williams, who was due to take on Matt Skelton in a British heavyweight title fight.

"I was very pleased with the figure for Khan's fight and delighted with the buzz surrounding it. It confirms to me that the ball really has started rolling again for boxing on ITV," said ITV's head of sport Mark Sharman.

It was the first fight in the 20-fight-nights-a-year package the broadcaster has agreed with the promoter Frank Warren, and Khan is expected to appear on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe's next World Boxing Organisation super-middleweight title defence, which has been scheduled for Cardiff on September 10.

Warren has not yet selected an opponent for Khan but the board of control's assistant general secretary Robert Smith said last night: "It is obvious that Khan is a class fighter, even though he has so little professional experience, so we will be trying to make sure that he is put into competitive contests."

The board's concern is well placed, although Warren has also insisted that the Olympic silver medallist cannot be hurried into tough contests too soon. "He is a young 18-year-old who has much to learn. The fans can be sure we'll be making the best matches to ensure that he is on a learning curve to get to a world title."

Plans for Khan's future will be discussed shortly and the media attention is expected to be more in keeping with a world title fight than a teenager who has just joined the paid ranks of the sport.

Security is another issue to be reviewed by the board, after Saturday's event had to be ended prematurely when a bomb scare forced police to evacuate the Arena.