Khan swaps Kristjansen for St Clair

Amir Khan has an even tougher assignment on his hands when he faces former world champion Gairy St Clair on Saturday 2nd February at the Excel London. The undefeated Bolton star was due to face Martin Kristjansen for the Vacant WBO Intercontinental Lightweight title but the Dane withdrew from the fight suffering from influenza. Khan, who's last fight was a whirlwind 72-second blitz over Graham Earl, will now have a harder test against the Australian when he defend his Commonwealth title for the third time. St Clair, the former IBF World Super-Featherweight Champion, has never been stopped in a 46-fight career and has extended former WBA World Light-World Champion Vivian Harris and the late Diego Corrales the full distance. But by the way Khan is punching at the moment, he is determined to be the first to stop him. Khan said: "Despite Kristjansen pulling out, I feel in fantastic shape at this point of my training. I'm punching real hard and just looking forward to getting in the ring on February 2nd to kick off my 2008 campaign towards the world title," "It was pretty tough with the change of opponent but at the end of the day I have a job to do and I've got to get on with it and focus on St Clair now," "As soon as the videos of him come in, I will sit down with my trainer Oliver Harrison and draw up the battle plans to beat him. His record looks very impressive and he has been in with some great names like Vivian Harris and Diego Corrales. If he has made these two go the distance then I know I've got a hard fight on my hands," "Obviously, the motivation is to be the first to stop him, which would look fantastic on my record, but I've also got great boxing skills to back it up with," "I'm looking forward to returning to the Capital and putting on a great show for the fans. In my last fight against Graham Earl I didn't even break into a sweat but I'm expecting a much tougher fight against St Clair," "There is no way I'm going to let him ruin my year and my world title ambitions." Promoter Frank Warren said, "St Clair is certainly a big step up for Amir and the toughest opponent that he has faced in his career so far. He is a former world champion and would be a great scalp for Amir's CV. It was disappointing that Kristjansen pulled out due to illness but I believe that we have an even better fight now with St Clair. He is a tough and experienced fighter and his fights against Vivian Harris and Diego Corrales prove that he is no mug. This could be a really dangerous fight for Amir and we have big plans for him this year but I'm sure that he will be thoroughly prepared on the night."