Khan confident of Salita defence

Khan is making his first defence of the WBA world light-welterweight title

WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan believes he has the secret to ending Dmitriy Salita's unbeaten record in December's title fight in Newcastle.

Khan, 22, is confident of defending his world title despite his Ukranian opponent's impressive record of 30 wins and a draw from 31 fights.

"I've spotted a lot of things that I can work on to beat him," Bolton-born Khan told BBC Newcastle.

"He's undefeated, but he's not faced Amir Khan yet. I know what to do."

The bout, at Newcastle Arena on 5 December, is Khan's first defence of the title he won against another Ukranian opponent Andreas Kotelnik in Manchester in July .

And having bounced back from defeat by Breidis Prescott in September 2008 with impressive wins against Oisin Fagan and Marco Antonio Barrera prior to his title win, Khan is focused on retaining the belt.

"I'm even more serious now. Being the world champion I want to keep hold of the championship," he said.

"I don't want to be a one-fight world champion, I want to keep hold of the world title and go all the way.

"It's going to be tough, but that's boxing for you. You have to fight the best fighters out there and Salita's one of the best fighters out there who wants to fight for my title and win my world title, and I'm not going to let him do that.

"If I see a knockout, I'm going to go for a knockout. If I know he's hurt or he's backing off I'm going to put the pressure on and I'm going to take him out."