Boxing Betting / Editor / 05 September 2008 / Leave a comment

Richard Douglas picks the best bets from Amir Khan's fight against Prescott and tells us how Alex Arthur will fare against Nicky Cook.

Amir Khan has a new trainer and a new channel going into Saturday's fight with Breidis Prescott. But whatever the nature of his inevitable victory at the MEN Arena, the same old doubts will remain.

The Bolton lightweight is an unbackable [1.12] against his unheralded Colombian opponent ([8.4]) however, in the build-up, Prescott's record of 17 KOs in his 19 bouts has used to push his case.

It is not surprising, Khan has been floored three times in his 18 fights, including his last outing against Michael Gomez, and it has been argued the Olympic silver medallist has so far tip-toed around the heavy-hitters at 135lb.

Having campaigned at light-welterweight for much of his career, Prescott will be larger than many of the fighters Khan has faced. However closer inspection of his record reveals nine of those boxers he KO'd did not have a win to their name at the time. There is no-one of real note on his entire boxing CV and he has only fought once outside his own country. His best victory came in his last fight when he edged a split decision against an unbeaten, yet inexperienced, Cuban called Richard Abril.

In short, Prescott is going to lose, almost certainly inside the distance and probably pretty early. When that happens we'll have learnt little more of about Khan's potential.

However he remains one of the most marketable fighters in Britain today. He has switched to Sky and this card sees him going out on pay-per-view for the first time. It is a controversial choice since only the insignificant WBO inter-continental belt is up for grabs. Khan normally rains down a torrent of punches straight from the first bell but there will be an extra incentive to give his new paymasters an exciting early blow-out. Rounds three and four were both set at [7.8] at the time of writing. Covering them both may be an option.

Much will depend on Prescott's ambitions of course. He comes from boxing stock and trains in the most spartan conditions in Barranquilla, northern Columbia. At 25, he will be the epitome of a hungry fighter with nothing to lose.

But lose he will. Especially as Khan has a new trainer as well as a new paymaster to impress. Jorge Rubio is widely respected for his work with Cuba's legendary national team and especially Mario Kindelan, the fighter who denied Khan a gold medal at Athens in 2004. Khan has said Rubio will make him "untouchable", Rubio has said Khan has untapped potential that will take another three of four fights to unlock. We'll see.

For some, Rubio is a perplexing choice. While his reputation is rock-solid perhaps the biggest question mark over Khan is that he retains too much of his amateur style. If that is true then why take on a mentor whose best work has come in the unpaid ranks?

Khan may be fast, flashy and capable of throwing loads of leather but his punching rarely truly concussive. His stamina came scrutiny before he won a lop-sided decision against wily veteran Gairy [correct] St Clair in February after 12 gruelling rounds. He has since proved his fighting heart and his ability to cope with pressure - but the big doubts remains over that chin.

Willie Limond, Rachid Drilzane and Gomez have all felled Khan as a professional. Only the last of those had any sort of reputation as a hitter. Despite that inflated record, Prescott is tall, rangy and has a predilection to swing hooks into the body. He is unlikely to knock him out but there is always a possibility he could knock him down.

The chief support is an all-British scrap for the WBO super-featherweight title between Nicky Cook ([4]) and holder Alex Arthur ([1.3]). The champion's price looks very short given that the challenger has lost only once. Admittedly that was a embarrassing 11th-round stoppage against Steven Luevano for the WBO featherweight belt in July last year when the Dagenham fighter was knocked down five times.

Cook claimed to be weight-drained that night and immediately moved up to super-featherweight. Arthur is the slicker technician but he has had his own weight-making issues in the past. He cited this struggle after a narrow points victory against unfancied Stephen Foster last time out. This could be closer than many people predict, however Arthur by decision/technical decision ([2.0]) has value.