Khan completes his regal redemption
Fifteen months on from his own apocalypse at the hands of Breidis Prescott in Manchester, Khan is back, a regal presence leading the upward march of British boxing. This was his resurrection. A credible opponent obliterated in a manner which few saw coming, least of all the poor sap bouncing off the canvas.
Brooklyn hard nut Dmitriy Salita entered the Metro Arena in Newcastle believing Khan to be chinny. He brought with him a Brooklyn chorus singing songs of doom for the champion. There was even a reporter from an Israeli national newspaper who had invested heavily in the kind of positive affirmation of Judaism represented by the fighting hands of Salita.
On Saturday night Britain reclaimed a sporting hero. There was no sense of division or resentment. No disrespect to the claims of our Olympic and world amateur gold medallists, James DeGale and Frankie Gavin, for whom stardom appears nailed on, but the house was full for one reason only.
Boxing has a primal tension and a drama all of its own. Whether you like it or you do not, once inside the arena there is no escaping its mesmeric pull.
The brilliant deconstruction of Khan's nemesis Prescott by Kevin Mitchell, itself boxing gold, primed the audience into a bacchanalian dance. At ringside a group of Salita devotees, backed by a thumping reggae anthem, screamed their boy into the ring.
This was Khan's first defence of his WBA light-welterweight title claimed in July. His trainer, Freddie Roach, thought the night might finish early in favour of Khan by rounds nine or ten. When asked afterwards what he thought of the three devastating knock-downs initiated by a pole axing right, he confessed he had not seen the first punch.
Salita was over before he had time to exit the ropes and resume his stool by the ring apron. Bravely, or foolishly, Salita got up but was clearly gone at all levels, his nervous system temporarily disconnected from his brain. Khan has only ever been a dignified presence in a violent business. Were he not lifted off his feet by his corner and paraded around the ring, a simple salute of the hand would have followed.
This was the kind of performance that sets tongues wagging. The bloodlust in the crowd could have tolerated a longer fight but there is nothing like a bulldozer right hand to set a name in lights.
Promoter Frank Warren has been at the big shows before, promoted the best of British in his twenty-year career. He rates Naseem Hamed above Nigel Benn, Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton as the best with whom he has worked. Sitting alongside Khan, DeGale, Gavin and Mitchell, Warren sensed a good time about to roll again.
"It's not only these guys. David Haye was here tonight. Carl Froch is another British world champion. British boxing is in great shape. Amir is still a young man and he will get even better. He is fantastic for this country and this sport. A year from now I would like to think that James and Frankie will be sat here with belts around their waists, not world champions obviously, but championship belts of some kind."
"You saw what the crowd made of Kevin Mitchell. That was a truly great performance against a proven puncher. He is next in line for the world title. This takes me back to the Naz years, which were really exciting."
Roach estimates that Khan is only half the fighter he can become. That will do little for Salita's confidence. At least he knows there is a way back. In September last year, Khan was the one lying on his back waiting for the world to stop spinning.
The doubters have not gone away. Khan knows that, but no longer seeks to please them. He acknowledges past failings, deals honestly with boxing's litmus question, how strong is the chin? Improving he says. That is all he can do. That, and whack into another dimension those who oppose him in the ring.
A holiday beckons, if Bolton can ever be that. And next year another rite of passage for a British puncher: the American debut. Las Vegas and Madison Square Garden are well and good, but no place like home. After what happened in Newcastle, Khan understands that he will always have that to come back to; a bona fide star of British boxing.