Michael Gomez faces the wrath of Amir Khan in Birmingham

Jun 20 2008 By Ian Johnson

AMIR Khan goes into the NIA ring tonight to defend his Commonwealth lightweight title an angry young man.

He faces a challenge from Manchester’s Michael Gomez with whom Khan is less than pleased.

The pair were due to attend a Press conference at the NIA on Wednesday and the challenger didn’t turn up.

Khan was angry feeling that Gomez had shown no respect for the fight or for the fans - especially as the promotion is a massive sell-out. But Khan said: “In the end it is what I do that matters and I am going to win this fight handsomely.

“Gomez has threatened all sorts of things and I have no doubt that he will use his greater experience to make them happen. That just makes me even more determined to beat him up.

“The response from the Birmingham fans has been fantastic and I will be sending them home happy with what they have seen,” he added.

The Khan camp consider this the toughest of his 17 outings. The potential world champion has won them all so far and there is little doubt that there will be another notch to the belt.

The bill has been a huge ticket seller and much of that is down to an undercard which spotlights the talent there is in Birmingham.

Marcus Portman, trained by Errol Johnson’s Black Country First Team challenges Bradley Pryce for the Commonwealth light middleweight title.

Portman has pulled off a surprise or two in the past and while he is the underdog this time, he is far from out of it. Coventry middleweight Steve Bendall challenges for the English title against Paul Smith and needs to win to keep his career going.

Birmingham flyweight Don Broadhurst cannot wait to get into the ring for the first time in front of his home fans since turning professional. He has sold almost 1,000 tickets, which is fantastic, and faces experienced Frenchman Alain Bonnel.

Broadhurst said: “This is going to be a great night for me and I want to make sure that my supporters have plenty to cheer about.”

Thomas Costello, another Brummie, has started his professional career in style but will have to pull out all the stops against veteran Ernie Smith. And on an action packed night Delroy Mitchell steps up to face Martin Concepion.