Challenger Salita confident of dethroning ‘chinny’ Khan
DMITRIY SALITA believes he can steal victory over “chinny” Amir Khan in Newcastle on Friday night.
The New York-based fighter puts his unbeaten record on the line when he takes on Khan for the WBA light-middleweight title.
Khan, defending his title for the first time following his victory over Andreas Kotelnik in July, claims to be in the shape of his life and is already eyeing a possible all-English match-up with friend Ricky Hatton.
But Russian-born Salita believes Khan has his flaws and is confidently predicting victory at the Metro Radio Arena.
“Even if he is ready he is going to have a lot of trouble but even more so if he hasn’t taken this fight seriously,” Salita said.
“He is a chinny guy, just the way he is built, there is nothing that he can do about it. He has made adjustments and obviously I watch tape and see what it is.
“I heard that Freddie Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach said we are going to go hook for hook and that would be great, let’s go hook for hook.
“It would be my lifetime achievement award to this point. I always imagined that this moment would come and I feel very confident that I will become world champion.”
Khan is also backing Dagenham’s Kevin Mitchell to overcome his former rival, Bredis Prescott, when the pair lock horns on the same bill.
Prescott destroyed Khan inside 60 seconds for his only defeat 15 months ago, but the Bolton fighter predicted: “I think Kevin can take him by not making the same mistakes I did.”