Dave Oakes recaps Saturday's Sky Boxing Office show featuring Amir Khan vs Dmitriy Salita and Kevin Mitchell vs Breidis Prescott.

Amir Khan made a spectacular first defence of his title on Saturday night, blowing away the over-hyped and over-protected Dmitriy Salita inside eighty seconds.

Salita was went down heavily from just the second punch landed, Khan touched him with a left hook before the following straight right sent the New Yorker down heavily. Khan followed up the knockdown with a non-stop bombardment of punches that had Salita, who now resembled a frightened rabbit, stumbling backwards into the corner, where he tried to bury himself into the canvas, the referee correctly ruled it as a knockdown, as it was only the ropes that were keeping the cowering Salita off the canvas.

To his credit, Salita decided to box on after the mandatory eight count but it was all over within seconds as Khan jumped on him and sent him tumbling to the canvas yet again, this time it was a sharp left that did the damage. The referee had seen more than enough by this stage and stopped the fight without bothering with a count.

It was a nice defence for Khan but it’s not a fight that will have helped him prepare for the bigger fights that lie ahead. Let’s hope that we see Khan stepped up a level in 2010, fights against Devon Alexander, Juan Urango, Michael Katsidis and Juan Manuel Marquez would all make sense.

On the undercard…

Kevin Mitchell produced the best performance of his career in taming Khan conqueror Breidis Prescott over twelve one-sided rounds. The usually aggressive Mitchell boxed with superb composure against the big hitting Colombian.

The first few rounds were quiet with Prescott looking for the big shot and Mitchell cautiously boxing on the outside. A few of Prescott’s bombs came close to making contact but Mitchell was managing to avoid the majority of them and was taking the rounds through his sharper work.

Mitchell continued to box rather than brawl for the remainder of the fight but was landing more punches as the rounds wore on. He was never in any danger of being beaten by Prescott, and despite the Colombians reputation as a knockout artist, I never felt Mitchell was going to be denied on this night.

The judges scorecards read: 119-110, 118-111 and 117-111. I also had it 119-110.

The win puts Mitchell in a great position to challenge for a world title next year, on the evidence of this fight, the more mature than previous Mitchell will stand a very good chance of winning.

John Simpson retained his Commonwealth featherweight title after a comfortable seventh round stoppage of Steven Bell. Simpson was in control from start to finish and dismantled the Mancunian challenger with steady pressure. Bell was being caught with some thudding punches throughout and looked relieved when the stoppage came. The referee took a bloody and bruised Bell to the corner get his eye looked at, his trainer Anthony Farnell had already seen enough, though, and sensibly pulled his man out.

The ever improving Simpson is now unbeaten in his last four fights and is looking for a fight against either the British champion Martin Lindsay or the European boss Oleg Yefimovych next.

A chubby looking Alex Arthur lost up at light-welterweight against the unheralded Nigel Wright. There wasn’t a great deal between the fighters but it was Wright who looked slightly sharper and he did enough to win 78-76 on the referee’s scorecard. Arthur needs to rededicate himself if he’s to have a future in the sport, a future that must be at lightweight.

Olympic gold medallist James DeGale won a four-rounder on points. He won every round of a fight that was nothing more than a public sparring session to keep his unbeaten record.

Frankie Gavin kept his unbeaten record with a sixth round stoppage of the game Samir Tergaoui. Gavin was made to work hard throughout but was always in charge. The stoppage came after a straight left sent the Frenchman to the canvas, he clambered to his feet but was stopped shortly afterwards when he was trapped against the ropes with Gavin firing away at him.

Enzo Maccarinelli got back to winning ways, bludgeoning Krisztian Jaksi to submission inside a round. It remains to be seen whether or not Maccarinelli will ever get back to world title level.

Hard hitting Tony Bellew went through the motions in taking a wide points decision over Martial Bella Oleme. Bellew never got out of second gear but didn’t need to against a woefully inept opponent.

Stephan Smith looked bored in out-pointing Chris Riley over four rounds. I sense that Smith needs a step up in class to get the best out of him, it’s still early days in terms of his career but he’s in danger of stagnating if he continues to fight opponents of this nature.

Billy-Joe Saunders won a one-sided six rounder against Lee Noble. Saunders was the boss from the first round onwards but never looked like stopping the tough Yorkshireman Noble.

The much touted Ronnie Hefforn won his pro debut. The former ABA champion, and a fighter hotly tipped to win gold at the 2012 Olympics, entered the paid ranks as he felt he was getting the right opportunities in the amateurs. The amateurs’ loss is the professionals gain as he blitzed Chris Brophy into retiring at the end of the second round.

The Anthony Farnell trained Heffron is definitely one to keep an eye out for in the future.

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