`` I 'm a growing young man and developing as a man . Freddie said to take it easy , pick the right shots and you 'll take this guy out and we did . `` Freddie is a great trainer , he 's like a father figure to me and to have him in my corner means a lot . Everyone knows I 'm a hard-working fighter and if you put the hard work in you 're going to get the benefits . `` After the first shot I could see his legs buckling and I just had to take my time . I knew he was going . '' Roach has helped the Olympic silver medal winner to rebuild his career after a humiliating defeat by unknown Colombian Breidis Prescott last year . `` It was a blessing in disguise what happened against Prescott , I got beat and came back stronger , '' Khan said . Roach was equally impressed with his young charge . `` I would give him an A + . I said if you hurt him , finish him . We 've been working on that power and the fight was really over
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- British boxer Amir Khan has retained his WBA light-welterweight title after winning the much-hyped `` battle of the faiths '' by stopping challenger Dmitriy Salita in the first round on Saturday night . Khan , a devout Muslim , knocked down his Jewish opponent three times before the referee stopped after just one minute and 16 seconds . Salita , an American citizen who was born in Ukraine and is nicknamed `` Star of David '' , was unable to follow up his bold claims made in the build-up to the fight , which took place in Newcastle in the north-east of England . The 22-year-old Khan was successful in his first defense of the belt that he won in defeating Andreas Kotelnik in July . He is trained by American Freddie Roach , who also guides Filipino star Manny Pacquiao , considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world . `` It was very explosive . The fight was just what we asked for , what Freddie asked me to do . We had too much power for this guy , '' a delighted Khan told reporters after the fight .