LONDON, Feb 19: Britain's Olympic Games silver medallist Amir Khan beat Steve Williams inside three rounds on Friday in Liverpool to keep his bid for an Amateur Boxing Association title on track.

Amir, who fought at lightweight in Athens, scored an emphatic 23-3 points victory in the North West Counties final - secured when the referee stopped the contest with Williams outclassed. And that was enough to claim him a place in the quarter-finals of the national competition as he moved within three fights of being crowned the best amateur light-welterweight in the country.

Just under a fortnight ago the Amir bandwagon looked to be stalling when, for the first time since his heroics last summer in Athens, he looked jaded and some way short of his best.

On his debut in this competition he survived a knockdown against Manchester's Craig Watson in his first bout before being left with a blooded nose by Salford puncher Liam Dorian in the second. But Friday there were no slip-ups and with just over a minute left of the third round the referee had seen enough - stepping in to stop the contest on the 'outclassed' ruling as Amir opened up a 20-point gap. -AFP