WHISPER it softly through a gum-shield, but British boxing is primed to be back on the up, up, uppercut.

And the ring-craft renaissance is largely due to an east Lancashire hit-spot.

The noble art has gone to ground rather than just hitting the canvas in recent times. The retirement of Lennox Lewis, KO'd by Father Time rather than any other modern heavyweight, and the disappearance into the void of Prince Naseem Hamed - it was once impossible to put Hamed and the word oblivion into the same sentence - have had as much a chilling impact on domestic boxing as any bone-crunching combination.

But this Saturday the revival in the sport will gather yet more momentum when Amir Khan clambers through the ropes at the Bolton Arena, where he will make his professional debut.

The youngster charmed an entire nation, and many other aficionados to boot, by his silver medal-winning exploits in the Olympic Games last summer. Even in defeat to Cuban maestro Mario Kindelan for the gold medal - a loss he reversed back in his hometown of Bolton this spring - Khan has already done much to give boxing a new and striking impetus. Together with recently-crowned world light-welterweight champion Ricky Hatton from nearby Manchester, British boxing no longer looks moribund. All together now - Lancashire, la la la, Lancashire, la la la.

It still has to be remembered that Saturday night is a low-key start for the amiable Khan. Now having to re-learn his trade in the starkly unforgiving amphitheatre of pro boxing, the 18-year-old steps nimbly into the arena against Londoner David Bailey on the undercard of Matt Skelton's British heavyweight title defence against Danny Williams.

You can bet though that Khan will be the main attraction, because this young man, like Hatton, embodies the rich tradition of little big men who have graced British boxing's illustrious history.

Like Hatton, who is only now getting the recognition he has so richly deserved, Khan has class and clout and courage in his fists as did the likes of Jack 'kid' Berg, Howard Winstone, Alan Rudkin, Ken Buchanan, Charlie Magri, Barry McGuigan et al.

Should Khan progress in the manner of his forerunners or his contemporary Hatton, then the fight game will again be ducking and weaving in better health than it has been for an unacceptable time.

Another shot in the arm for both Khan and Hatton is that their feats will now be captured by ITV now that promoter and manager Frank Warren has rejoined the terrestrial television network.

The hijacking of boxing by satellite channel Sky Television in the 1990s has been nothing short of disastrous for the British fight game.

Unlike its treatment of football and rugby league - the former a gilt-edged golden goose, the latter a phenomenally massive success given its poor treatment in the national media - Sky helped to merely marginalise boxing.

The coverage was trademark slick and professional, the personalities were equally as engaging and knowledgeable, but somehow British boxing started to shrink within itself especially under Sky's pay-per-view policy. It has degenerated into shadow boxing, dancing and darting virtually unnoticed while other sports gained in popularity at its expense.

Restored to a terrestrial network channel big 'Fight-Nights' will hopefully again become the norm. The gauntlet has been thrown down and I cannot think of any better candidates than Hatton and Khan to pick it up and give boxing back to the people.

Updated: 10:36 Tuesday, July 12, 2005