Sports Features

An anticipated announcement from the British Boxing Board of Control has been called off after Amir Khan withdrew his challenge for Jon Thaxton's British Lightweight Title.

Khan's team claim to have made a significant offer to Thaxton's team outside of the BBBofC's bidding process, but it was rejected by the British Champion from Norwich.

A similar offer, reported to be around £300,000, was made to Khan by Thaxton's promoter Mick Hennessy. This, in turn, was rejected.

"Khan has pulled out and he's made himself look bad. He's depriving the British public of a great fight and in short, he's bottled it," said Jon Thaxton speaking on BBC Radio Norfolk.

"I'm not interested in the money side of things but we didn't want to hand control over to Khan's promoter ,we were determined to go through the official purse bids," he added.

Commonwealth belt

Thaxton had been made mandatory challenger for Khan's own Commonwealth belt, effectively making it a unification bout, and it's expected Khan will be stripped of that title following his withdrawal.

The news has been met by dismay from British Boxing Board of Control general secretary Simon Block.

"The board will be disappointed that Khan has decided not to put himself forward for the bidding process, and also that Thaxton appears to have turned down a career-best purse," said Block.

He also said it was disappointing news following a great couple of months for British boxing.

"With the great end in 2007, this match was to be one of the most eagerly awaited," he said.