Earl lies in wait after Lawton feels wrath of Khan

Amir Khan is set for a second defence of his Commmonwealth lightweight title at the Bolton Arena on December 8 against Graham Earl, a former world champion who was ringside at the Nottingham Arena on Saturday night to see the 20-year-old's four-round destruction of Scott Lawton.

Earl, 29, has not fought since featuring in a thrilling WBO interim title fight against the big-punching Australian Michael Katsidis in February. Nevertheless, the former WBU lightweight champion from Luton is confident his punching power will be enough to bring a first defeat to Khan, who has now won his first 14 professional contests.

"He obviously has talent, and he looked good against Lawton," said Earl. "But I will be putting him under a lot more pressure when we fight. He does still make mistakes that give you openings and when I connect we will see how good his chin is. I have been waiting to fight Amir for some time now and have been watching everything that he does."

The December 8 date clashes with Ricky Hatton's world welterweight title fight against the American Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas, but Khan's promoter, Frank Warren, is confident his man will sell-out for the hometown fight in Bolton. Warren was particularly pleased with the progression Khan showed after his exciting but flawed performance when he took the title from Scotland's Willie Limond in July.

"I'm picking shots and pacing myself," said Khan, after he had finished Lawton with a flurry of punches, including five uppercuts, that provoked the referee Victor Loughlin's intervention. "I proved my critics wrong and I am going in the right direction. It's a learning curve. I'm getting better all the time."

Warren again cautioned against speculation that Khan might be fast-tracked towards a world-title shot. "I liked what I saw against Lawton," said Warren. "His defence was tighter, he was keeping his weight more on his back foot and he was delivering his punches more effectively. He looked more relaxed, but let's see where he is in two or three fights' time before talking about world-title shots."

The Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera confirmed that he is retiring from the sport after he lost a unanimous points decision in a super-featherweight fight in Las Vegas against the current world No1, Manny Pacquiao, of the Philippines. The 33-year-old Barrera, who lost to Pacquiao when they fought for a first time four years ago, lost by scores of 118-109, 118-109 and 115-112. "This is my last fight. Tonight I say goodbye to this beautiful sport," Barrera told the crowd, leaving a career record of 63 wins and six defeats and having been world champion at three weights in a career that began in 1989.