British rivals eye Amir clash

10:20am Saturday 13th September 2008

BRITISH lightweight champion John Murray and former champion Jon Thaxton want to fight Amir Khan.

Khan is picking up the pieces of his career after a shock first-round stoppage at the hands of Colombian Breidis Prescott at the MEN Arena last weekend.

Murray has long campaigned for a crack at Khan and the Mancunian had hoped that it would be he who was in the opposite corner at the MEN Arena on Saturday night – not Prescott.

However, in spite of his disappointment at being beaten to the proverbial punch by Prescott, Murray remains keen on an all-British showdown with Khan.

“He’s had a bad loss but the offer still stands. But I think they’re going to bring in someone for him to knock over, to get his confidence back up. Then they’ll be looking for bigger fights next year, I think.

“I think that now that he’s been beaten he might come looking for me because I’m the British champion.

“He has to rebuild and start again. Obviously, world titles are out of the question for him at the minute. I don’t think he’s ready. So he’ll have to come back down to domestic level and I think there’s a good chance he might want to fight me.”

Thaxton, who has a second shot at the European lightweight title against Juan Carlos Diaz Melero on October 4, is also hoping for a showdown.

“He said: “It will be hard to rebuild Amir Khan from this. I had a bit of a smile on my face on Saturday. That’s why Khan wouldn’t face me, he would not fight a puncher.”