Amir Khan looks to United States for next challenge

Amir Khan plans to conquer the United States after a 76-second demolition of Dimitry Salita in defence of his WBA world light-welterweight title in Newcastle last night.

"It's everyone's dream to go over to Las Vegas," the 22-year old from Bolton said. "Next year sometime is what we're looking at and we're going to hopefully shock the world when we go to America."

Frank Warren, Khan's promoter, is considering the option of taking his fighter overseas, but believes Khan has the star quality to pull massive crowds on home soil.

"He will go and fight in the States," Warren said. "What fighter doesn't want to fight at Madison Square Garden or in Las Vegas? He's got the ambition to do that and prove himself over there. He will do that.

"He knows he's got great fans here. He's not fought at a football stadium yet, he's not fought at the Bolton ground yet. Fill that place up and imagine what the atmosphere is going to be like with 40,000 people in there."

No opponent has been named for Khan's next defence, but Warren has ruled out an all-British fight against Ricky Hatton.

"I don't feel Ricky Hatton should fight any more," Warren said. "Maybe he could get himself down to the weight, but one thing's for sure, his reflexes and his legs are gone. For Ricky to be able to fight it would take him about six or seven months to get himself into some shape."

Warren has no immediate plans for Khan to fight Manny Pacquiao either. The pair both train under Freddie Roach, but the Filipino is expected to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr in a superbout in March. "They're professional fighters and maybe a couple of years down the road if Pacquiao's still around, it may be a fight that takes place."

After suffering a spectacular knockout defeat by Breidis Prescott in September 2008, Khan teamed up with Roach to beat Andreas Kotelnik, of Ukraine, in July to claim the WBA title.

Making his first defence against the unbeaten Salita, Khan floored his man ten seconds into the contest and never let up to force a first-round stoppage. Khan was surprised by his quick victory. "We didn't go into the fight looking to knock Salita out because we didn't want to make mistakes," he said.

Salita acknowledged he did not have the chance to get into the fight. "He started fast, faster than most of the people I've fought," he said. "He did what he had to do, caught me with a couple of shots and I really didn't have an opportunity to get myself going."