It was no contest in Newcastle.

About 10 seconds into the evening's main event, WBA junior welterweight titlist Amir Khan sparked Dmitriy Salita with a right hand that sent the New Yorker to the mat.

It was over then. On jelly legs and with glassed-over eyes, Salita attempted to fight on. Desperately, he clutched and grabbed at Khan, hoping to get his legs back beneath him.

Another Khan flurry sent him back to the mat. Salita got up once more, but again the young Brit threw his lighting-quick hands in abundance, sending Salita down again, forcing the referee to stop the fight after just 76 seconds of work.

Not bad, Amir. Not bad. Buuuut...

What Khan (22-1, 16 KO) did today was ravage a fighter that anyone who had seen them both fight knew was overmatched. It's OK. Salita was the mandatory challenger -- Khan didn't make that the case, the WBA did. Salita had not earned that position, really, and while I'm not saying that BoxRec.com has flawless rankings, they're generally within the ballpark on current fighters.

Salita was ranked 63rd in the world at 140 pounds with that shiny record of his, now 31-1-1 (16 KO). Sixty-third. Well behind such luminaries as Giuseppe Lauri, Mike Dallas Jr., and Frankie Figueroa. Would anyone have been impressed that Khan beat Frankie Figueroa, for instance?

I'm not saying don't congratulate Khan for a ruthlessly efficient performance, for showing his power is real, for showing his speed is real. Khan's a good fighter. But we're dealing with a guy they're hyping as a phenom. This "phenomenal year" of Khan's has consisted of a garbage win over an old, shot, overweight Marco Antonio Barrera, a very solid win over the very solid Andriy Kotelnik, and now a wipeout of a guy that shouldn't have been in there in the first place.

I'm just saying. And I like Khan a lot, but there's still very much for him to prove. That said, he did more than I expected today. I figured he'd badly rout Salita, but he tore him to shreds with the first solid punch he landed. It was game over, man.

On the undercard, Kevin Mitchell (30-0, 22 KO) outclassed the guy whose entire reputation is wrapped up in his defeat of Khan, Colombian Breidis Prescott. Prescott (21-2, 18 KO) really was never in the fight. Having watched Miguel Vazquez disable his bombs in Prescott's last fight, this is more or less what I expected. A good win for Mitchell, but I was already positive he was much better than Prescott. Mitchell won on scores of 119-110, 118-111 and 117-111. Bad Left Hook scored it 117-111.

John Simpson continued his hot streak by stopping Stevie Bell in the seventh round on a cut. Bell was out of the fight (I had Simpson up 6-0 in rounds) and had fought bravely trying to change the momentum, but nothing was working. His corner decided not to risk his safety any more than they had to.

Live coverage begins at 3pm ET.

AMIR KHAN		DMITRIY SALITA
	Main Event

Lightweights: Kevin Mitchell (29-0, 22 KO) v. Breidis Prescott (21-1, 18 KO)

Jr. Welterweights: Alex Arthur (27-2, 20 KO) v. Nigel Wright (20-6-1, 9 KO)

Featherweights: John Simpson (20-6, 8 KO) v. Stevie Bell (18-1-2, 5 KO)

Many of the top UK prospects are also on the card, don't know who will be on TV.

Amir Khan's quick rise up the ranks has been met by plenty of criticism, some unfortunate fan backlash, and some legitimate questions.

But a few things are very clear.

1. In terms of pure talent, the kid has the goods.
2. He's got some of the fastest hands in the sport today, and I mean he's top five in hand speed. He's up there with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
3. Freddie Roach has some tremendous ideas when it comes to this young man.
4. He hasn't yet reached his peak.
5. His chin sucks.

That last one will always be the knock on Khan. What helps is that no matter how he tries to phrase anything regarding his chin, I think it's obvious that he knows he doesn't have much of a beard, and thus his pride hasn't gotten in the way of him learning how to protect that weakness. Freddie Roach is turning Khan into a miniature version of Wladimir Klitschko, whose best defense is a steady, consistent, strong, and simple offense.

In some ways, it stinks to see Khan's blazing fists sort of "wasted" by turning him into a jab machine. This is a guy that can throw lightning combinations, and while he's not overly powerful, he's plenty strong enough to stop guys. But Freddie's a tremendous tactician, and it appears as though he's made the absolute right move.

Khan hired Freddie as his lead trainer after being starched by big-punching Breidis Prescott. Immediately, improvements were made. Tough veteran Oisin Fagan was the first New Khan victim, followed by a blown-up and shot Marco Antonio Barrera in a fight I still have huge issues with.

Khan's first world title shot came in July, and he dominated Andriy Kotelnik to capture the WBA junior welterweight belt. Today, he makes his first defense.

Dmitriy Salita (30-0-1, 16 KO) seems like a nice enough guy. It was his fight with club fighter Derrick Campos that rather sadly "stole the show" on last November's horrendous Calzaghe-Jones pay-per-view card. But quite simply, the Ukraine-born Salita has never beaten anyone even close to Khan's level, and I don't think he has the talent to do so.

Yes, Khan's chin is pretty weak, but Salita is rumored to have had horrible trouble making the 140-pound weight limit. He was already at a disadvantage physically in just about every way, and when you tack on the fact that he might be drained out there, it doesn't look good at all. Basically, Salita is a lesser version of Kotelnik, though a bit taller.

Under Freddie Roach's guidance, I don't see Khan having much trouble with fighters of this level until he's old and washed up. I'm going with Amir by wide decision, with a stoppage quite possible.

Featured on the undercard, Kevin Mitchell and Breidis Prescott will fight a lightweight title eliminator. Prescott lost his last fight to Miguel Vazquez, so he's in this position only because Frank Warren seems to have some odd fascination with the man that knocked out Khan so quickly and easily. And he became a marginal name in the UK because of that performance, too. A win for Mitchell (which is likely, as Prescott is not very good) gives him some nice credibility gain among the regional fans, but frankly I'm already quite certain he's better than Prescott. Could be a good fight, though.

Also on the undercard, Alex Arthur takes on Nigel Wright and John Simpson faces Stevie Bell. Notable prospects Frankie Gavin, James DeGale, Billy Joe Saunders and Tony Bellew will also see action, and Enzo Maccarinelli tries to not get knocked out by Krisztian Jaksi (6-12-4, 0 KO).

Khan inside the weight, Salita on point (Sky Sports)
Dmitriy Salita had to strip down to make 140 pounds, and word is Salita had to run in the morning to get down and make the weight. Khan said, "It's a big chance for him but I can see fear in his eyes. He looked very drained with the weight and I think that will be to my advantage." Like Roach stablemate Manny Pacquiao, Khan is now having his fitness overseen by Alex Ariza, and Khan was comfortably on weight.

Khan humble like Pacquiao: Khan v Salita not Jew v Muslim, says Brit (Telegraph)
Telegraph's Gareth A. Davies compares Khan to Pacquiao (oh my!) and Khan speaks about the religious angle of the fight's promotion.

‘Kosher Kid’ ready to go faith to faith with Amir Khan (This Is London)
See? Not about faith at all.

Faith takes front-row seat in Khan vs. Salita fight (CNN)
See? Not about faith at all.

Amir Khan ready for title defence against Salita (BBC Sport)
"But now I've hit world-class level, I want to beat these people. Not just beat them, I want to knock them out and I want to put a stamp there to say, 'look guys, Amir Khan is here and you better be careful what you say because I'm the world champion and I'm going to back it up by fighting and making a statement'," he remarked after beating one ranked fighter and never once going for the knockout in that fight.

Dmitriy Salita is latest in line of Jewish warriors of the ring (Guardian)
Dmitriy Salita is the massive underdog tomorrow, but Salita over Khan wouldn't exactly be the craziest thing we've ever seen.

Hitman not ruling out Khan (Sky Sports)
Ricky Hatton isn't against the idea of fighting countryman Amir Khan next year. This would be a massive fight in the UK were it to come about.

Breidis Prescott and Kevin Mitchell eye Amir Khan fight after Newcastle showdown (Telegraph)
The main undercard bout is perhaps the night's most intriguing, as Kevin Mitchell takes on Breidis Prescott. Many assume Prescott will win, but he has done nothing of note since beating Khan, and really did nothing of real note before then either. I've got Mitchell winning without a ton of trouble, but then if Prescott does land the big shots...

Despite their stated hopes early in the talks for a fight that it wouldn't be marketed using their different faiths, Amir Khan and Dmitriy Salita have had just that happen. From the AFP:

"Throughout history, Jews and Muslims have lived very well together. I think this event will show that," said Salita, whose parents, fleeing anti-Semitic harassment, brought him to the United States from ex-Soviet Ukraine when he was nine.

"Sports is an international language and our fans will be together. I think it's a positive event."

Khan, the 22-year-old son of Pakistani immigrants who took silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics, preaches the same message.

"What I love about boxing is that it brings together every culture, race and creed under the sun," Khan told Britain's Sun daily.

"When before could you say that you are going to get the Muslims, the Jewish community and the British together in one place enjoying themselves on a night of world championship boxing?"

I can't blame them, because it's a fairly interesting angle. Neither Khan nor Salita are disrespectful sorts at all, and it was never in any danger of going that route. But the focus on faith was supposedly what they did not want, yet that's been most of the marketing that has gone on. Almost every feature article about the bout has centered on their religious views.

Salita says he's expecting the British Jewish community to come out and support him, and is arranging for plenty of kosher food to be available in Newcastle. Salita remains a massive underdog given that Khan has fought guys with comparable styles and dominated (Andriy Kotelnik being the best of that lot, and probably much better than Salita), but the New Yorker is going over to win.

And really? Not to focus on faith or anything, but could a world title for Salita come at a better time? With Yuri Foreman winning a title at 154 pounds on the Cotto-Pacquiao undercard, the Jewish community may well be paying attention to boxing far more than usual still. Foreman's win drew plenty of press, and Salita is next in line for a major belt.

Terence Dooley reports that a WBO lightweight title eliminator has been signed for the December 5 Khan-Salita undercard. England's Kevin Mitchell will meet Breidis Prescott in the bout.

So let's go ahead and get yours and my first thought out of the way: Yes, Prescott lost his last fight, and no, he does not deserve to be battling for a title shot by any stretch of the imagination. Since the first-round stoppage of Amir Khan, Prescott has gone back to being woefully unimpressive despite the fact that his right hand is always dangerous. In February, Prescott fought veteran Humberto Toledo. He was beating Toledo easily but failing to thrill in the process before Toledo bit him for a 10th round disqualification.

Then in July in his second ESPN2 bout of the year, Prescott knocked down the 22-year old Vazquez in the first round, but then Vazquez came back to pretty thoroughly outbox the favored Colombian slugger.

Vazquez (25-3, 12 KO) isn't a name, though, and his upset of Prescott didn't make waves the way Prescott's knockout of Khan did, so I guess we're supposed to sweep it under the rug and forget about it. It's gross favoritism shown by the sanctioning body.

Promoter Frank Warren, who put the fight together, believes it's "the right fight":

"This time I’ve had time to study Prescott," Warren said. "Kevin needs a challenge and is capable of beating Prescott.

"Before Prescott boxed Amir I hadn’t even seen a tape of him, but the trainer and the team were keen on him, so I went along with it. I think Amir could beat him if he prepared right for him."

Meanwhile, the deserving Vazquez has to sit back and hope something comes along. The only losses on his record are to Saul Alvarez (twice) and Timothy Bradley -- not bad, huh? During that fight, Sergio Mora sat in at ringside and said he'd sparred with Vazquez and the past, and knew how good he was. Vazquez used tricky timing and a varied offensive plan to neutralize and frustrate Prescott, and in the end earned a hard-fought win.

But again, he wasn't supposed to do that, so he's ignored. What a crock.

Mitchell (29-0, 22 KO) does deserve this sort of fight. The 25-year-old from Dagenham made an official move up to lightweight this year after campaigning for a while at 130 pounds. He's a heck of a good fighter, really, one of the more promising in the UK. Like anyone, he needs to fear Prescott's right hand, but the more you watch Prescott, the more you realize he's a lot like countryman Edison Miranda. He's a lot of fear wrapped up in one punch, easily worked around by anyone who can box.

There's really no other way to put the headline, so I didn't even try. Andriy Kotelnik has broken out that old, dumb line of thinking about having to REALLY BEAT the "champion," which he feels Amir Khan did not do in his July victory over Kotelnik.

Said Kotelnik:

"If that bout had taken place in any other country, everything could have been different. I think that you have to be far superior to beat a champion, you must win convincingly. Amir Khan didn’t do it. It’s not the way you beat a champion. If we compare this bout to the ones where I had been given a draw, though I’d been much stronger, Khan didn’t show anything special. I wasn’t expecting such subjective refereeing. The judges gave all the rounds to Khan, I believe it’s unjust."

I know some boxing fans still think this way, but it's so ridiculous to me that I won't even bother again. We've discussed it before. I'll just say in short that thinking there has to be a designated margin of victory for someone to lose their "championship" is moronic. On another point, Kotelnik has had one draw in his career, against Souleymane M'baye in 2007, so I don't know what "ones" he's talking about where he was given a draw.

Anyway, the bigger point here is really that Kotelnik was completely dominated by Khan. Official scores were 120-108, 118-111 and 118-111 for Khan. Bad Left Hook scored it 118-110 for Khan. The fight was not close at all. Kotelnik did nothing to Khan, whose speed and jab kept Kotelnik from ever getting out of the starting blocks in the fight, and when it appeared clear to everyone on earth that Kotelnik needed a knockout to win the fight, he never even tapped Khan's chin. Khan outboxed and outsmarted him for 12 rounds, and he did so with relative ease.

You know why the judges gave the rounds to Khan? Because he won them. Kotelnik apparently believes Khan should have fought stupider, which of course might have given him a chance to win. Instead, Khan fought a clean fight, dominated him for 36 minutes, and won. I've seen nobody argue this decision at all. Khan won, Kotelnik lost, and this is sour grapes from a fighter who was left frustrated, without his title, and back at the drawing board, routed by a superior physical specimen.

Kotelnik currently has nothing scheduled. Khan faces Dmitriy Salita on December 5 in the UK.

Amir Khan will defend his WBA junior welterweight title on December 5 in Newcastle against Dmitriy Salita, as has been the rumor for a couple of months now.

Khan (21-1, 15 KO) won the title from Andriy Kotelnik with a dominant decision in July, and almost immediately the Salita fight was discussed. Both fighters have openly discussed it for months, as if the fight was a given, and now it's signed.

Salita (30-0-1, 16 KO) has been beating journeymen for years now. Most last saw him on the Calzaghe-Jones undercard, winning what was sadly the fight of the night against Kansas club fighter Derrick Campos. He also has wins over guys like Ruben Galvan, Grover Wiley, Raul Munoz, and Rocky Martinez, and drew Ramon Montano for his record's only blemish in 2006.

Chances are Khan is too fast and too dynamic for Salita, much as he was for Kotelnik. Salita is a solid boxer, but nothing special and has no great attributes. That said, if he gets in and tags Khan, anything can happen. Worse punchers than Salita have put Khan on the canvas in his pro career.

Tickets are going on sale tomorrow for those in the UK that are interested in attending the fight live.