Khan bruises Collazo for win

Amir Khan, left, got the win over Luis Collazo with a well deserved unanimous decision.

LAS VEGAS -- Amir Khan thought he had a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. locked up months ago and was bitterly disappointed when Mayweather bypassed him and elected to fight Marcos Maidana instead on Saturday night.
So Khan, a former unified junior welterweight titlist, accepted a spot in the co-feature, moved up to welterweight and scored a clear unanimous decision against former titleholder Luis Collazo at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, hoping his victory was enough of a statement to put himself at the front of the line to face Mayweather in the fall.
"Definitely, people want to see that fight between me and Floyd," Khan said. "He's fighting guys who are strong, but styles make fights, and I believe my style would cause Floyd a lot of trouble."
Although Khan was the clear winner, scoring three knockdowns and outboxing Collazo to win 119-104, 119-104 and 117-106 -- ESPN.com also had it 117-106 -- the victory was not without some worrisome moments, especially when Collazo really shook him up in the eighth round.
Khan was in command from the outset, showing much faster hands, good movement and power. He hurt Collazo with a pair of right hands early in the second round and also landed a solid left hook.

In the third round, Khan dropped Collazo, catching him with a short right hand during an inside exchange.
Khan sure didn't look like a fighter who had been out of the ring for 13 months, a layoff caused mainly because he thought he had the Mayweather fight and pulled out of the late stages of negotiations for a fight with then-welterweight titlist Devon Alexander in December.
"One thing about [trainer] Virgil Hunter is it's the first time we ever spent a long time together," Khan said. "He taught me some good things and I put them together tonight. [Collazo] was very awkward.