BURY Boxing Club's Amir Khan has his sights set firmly on Olympic glory after boxing his way to the world junior lightweight title in South Korea.

The seventeen-year-old medal hope will head to Athens in August to fight for England and is bullish about his chances of more success: "Winning a world title has given me huge confidence going into the Olympics," Amir said.

"I beat some very good boxers and the title has made me better known in the Boxing world. I'm just hopeful of getting a good draw and I'm confident of coming home with a medal.

"A lot of other coaches and officials complemented me in South Korea so I was thrilled with that."

Khan won the under-19's tournament in Jeju City despite injuring his hand in the early rounds of his title challenge.

Amir had to fight with only one hand in his quarter-final because of bruising in his right hand, and had ice and laser treatment to help him before the semi-final and final.

And, to cap what was a great achievement, Khan was also judged the best boxer in the tournament out of entrants from 72 other nations.

The pugilist won five bouts to clinch the title, including a 20 second knockout of French opponent Alexis Vastins in the semi-final.

In the final, Khan beat Uzbekistan's Zokir Artikov after forcing two standing counts.

Amir earlier dismissed Chinese Tai Pee's Cheng Liao, Cuba's Mernandez Ugas and Kazakhstan's Darken Asirov to progress to the semi-final.

The victory over the pre-tournament favourite, Cuban Ugas, the former Cadet Champion, was the catalyst for Khan to achieve the title.

The Bolton College student explained: "I hurt my hand in the first round of my fight with Ugas but I managed to come through convincingly and it gave me lots of confidence.

"I knew if I could beat him, I could beat anyone."

The countdown to Greece has started in earnest and the Bury Boxing Club prodigy has just received his five-week training programme from England that will see him head to Cyprus for training and acclimatising ahead of his biggest test to date.

Amir will undergo sports conditioning, strength and fitness work and will analyse possible opponents and different boxing styles through videos.

Meanwhile, Amir is not the only member of the Khan family to hold a prestigious title. For, younger brother Haroon won gold in the Four Nations in Liverpool after stopping his Scottish opponent in the final.

Both boxers fight at Bury Boxing Club under the guidance of coach Mike Jelley and Amir was quick to attribute praise to his mentor: "Mike is definitely the best coach I've had," he said.

"I wouldn't be half the boxer I am now without him and I not only fighting for myself, but for England, my family, Mike and Bury Boxing Club."

Unfortunately, red tape means Jelley cannot appear in his protege's corner at the Olympics and this is Amir's one regret: "I would really like Mike in my corner because I think I will fight better with him there and feel more comfortable.

"However, he will be watching as a spectator and I will hopefully get to talk to him before my fights."

Amir harbours ambitions to turn professional one day but is just concentrating on the Olympics at the moment.

He said: "I would like to turn professional but it all depends on how I do at the Olympics and what happens.

"I am very happy with the way things are at the moment and I'm in no rush to change things."

The youngster has his feet firmly on the ground and is currently studying Sports Development at college inbetween winning world titles on the big stage.

And, his father Shajaad Khan enthused: "I am so proud of both my boys.

"Amir just trains and trains and trains and I hope Haroon can learn from him.

"Hopefully, they will both go on and get even better with age."