Amir Khan’s return was swift, but managed to deliver a message to the rest of the 147-pound division.
After not being in the boxing ring for nearly two years, Khan showed no signs of slowing down after defeating Phil Lo Greco in 39 seconds his first fight since being knocked out by Canelo Alvarez in 2016.
The fight, which was the first boxing main event to be streamed live on ESPN’s new ESPN+ online streaming service, started off with Khan pressing forward and landing a strong right hand that knocked down Lo Greco about 15 seconds into the fight. Lo Greco was only knocked down to one knee, but he never fully recovered from Khan’s initial onslaught of punches. Once Lo Greco, got back up, Khan continued to dominate the fight, pressuring Lo Greco to the ropes and landing multiple punches. A flurry of punches from Khan put Lo Greco to the canvas once more, but once Lo Greco went down, the referee stopped the fight, awarding Khan the win.
For Khan, this was his first win in the boxing ring since a May 2015 unanimous decision win over Chris Algieri to retain his WBC Silver welterweight title. After that fight, he moved up two weight classes to challenge for Alvarez’s WBC middleweight title, but Alvarez defeated Khan inside six rounds.
While Khan is eager to challenge for a welterweight world title, his other top priority is getting a fight with longtime rival and former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook. After Khan won the fight, he briefly confronted Brook as both boxers are promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, meaning a fight between two of England’s most popular boxers could happen someday.
