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Owen Slot on Sunday’s final

Tonight Amir Khan, the 17-year-old boxing sensation from Bolton, beat Serik Yeleuov, of Kazakhstan to qualify for Sunday’s lightweight final. Owen Slot, The Times’ boxing correspondent looks forward to Sunday’s fight and the future for Khan

“Although Khan has done brilliantly so far it will still be very difficult for him to win the gold.

“His probable opponent in the final will be Mario Kindelán of Cuba, who is an excellent and experienced fighter 15 years Khan’s senior.

“Kindelán is probably the best pound-for-pound fighter at the Olympics. He is the reigning Olympic champion and has won everything in the last six years. Kindelán also beat Khan quite easily in a pre-Olympic tournament in Athens.

“That said, Khan has been on a steep learning curve and improving. It just depends on how far he has come in the last couple of months.

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“If Khan does beat Kindelán I am certain he will chose to go professional because he would be worth so much. There are already stories circulating about agents offering him the world. Audley Harrison got a £1 million, ten-fight deal after winning gold in Sydney.

“If he doesn’t win gold he might decide to carry on to Beijing, as he said he would before the Olympics. But that was when he didn’t think he had a chance of winning in Athens. I am sure he now thinks he can win gold here. He is certainly not lacking in self-belief.

“If he decides to remain an amateur he has the Commonwealth Games and European Championships to look forward to.”