Boxing: Khan must ride out TV storm while pacifying Prescott

Amir Khan, his new trainer, his loyal promoter and the men behind the scenes at Sky hope to find out tonight if the child star of the Athens Olympics will develop into a proper professional champion.

Khan, 21, is undefeated in 18 fights against a list of opponents that have in theory allowed him to gently learn his trade and at the same time not provided any serious risk of a setback.

However, he has been dumped on the canvas twice and has become a far more exciting fighter than was necessary. The consequences of Khan's defensive fragility have made him an enormous attraction and that is presumably why tonight's fight against Breidis Prescott is a pay-per-view attraction.

In the opposite corner at the MEN Arena in Manchester and in front of a hostile crowd of about 18,000 is another unbeaten fighter, but Prescott's record is most definitely impressive. The Colombian has stopped or knocked out 17 of his 19 victims, is a full-blown lightweight and is also as tall as Khan, which suggests on paper that tonight's fight should be intriguing.

The fight has divided the British boxing community but its merits are being unfairly judged against the controversial backdrop of the switch to Sky and more importantly the switch to pay-per-view. Frank Warren, Khan's promoter since 2005, has revealed that once ITV, who had screened Khan's 18 previous professional fights, withdrew from the bidding there was no alternative but Sky and that inevitably meant that boxing fans would have to fork out another £14.99 to watch Khan's progress.

Warren insists that he needs 250,000 sales to make it viable and he is still understandably shocked that ITV, who had appeared happy with Khan's audiences of over six million, simply walked away from a boxer they had helped to create.

Khan's new trainer, meanwhile, Jorge Rubio, has walked into the middle of the television negotiations and the subsequent controversy but has managed to distance his new charge from the furore. Rubio is a Cuban who is based in Florida and was hired by Khan on the day they met.

Tonight in Manchester Khan will need to be alert in the opening round when Prescott will be at his most dangerous but the combined efforts of a highly-motivated crowd and the boxer's speed will drain the Colombian quickly.