Wise words from Amir helps Haroon Khan through

The boxer, representing Pakistan at the Commonwealth Games, makes light work of Sunday Elias in the flyweight division.

Haroon Khan revealed how he was boosted by his world champion brother's words of wisdom after he swept through his international debut for Pakistan with a stoppage win over Sunday Elias in Delhi.

The 19-year-old is representing the Pakistanis at the Games after being rejected by the Great Britain elite squad in a decision which still clearly rankles with the younger Khan and his father Shah.

And Khan showed plenty of touches of his older brother Amir's ringcraft as he swept into a 12-1 lead against his outclassed Tanzanian opponent before the referee stopped the fight midway through the third and final round.

Khan said: "I spoke to my brother on the way here and he told me to ignore the negative publicity and just concentrate on your opponent and bring the result back and that's what I did.

"This is a big opportunity for me to prove the critics wrong in England and I'm glad I've done that.

"My job is to perform in the ring and I didn't let it get to me. I'm not going to bother about the bad publicity I've had."

Khan fought on the front foot from the start, going 2-0 up in the opening half-minute and easing to a 4-1 advantage at the end of the first.

In his keenness to finish the job Khan displayed some of the careless defensive traits of his older brother in his amateur days, but it barely mattered against an opponent who was clearly out of his depth.

Khan had extended his lead to 11-1 at the end of his second round and floored his opponent with a sharp right early in the third. Soon afterwards the referee wisely waved the contest off.

The Khan camp believe politics played a hand in excluding Haroon from the elite British set-up in Sheffield although the British side point out that that they have multiple international medallist Khalid Yafai in the same flyweight division.

Either way Khan is hoping to get an earlier than expected chance to prove himself once again with a potential third round pairing against either England's Tommy Stubbs or European bronze medallist Andrew Selby of Wales.

Khan added: "They'll be tough and I'm sure they'll want to beat me as much as I want to beat them. I'm going to get back into training now. My preparations have been brilliant and I'm sure I'm going to get much better."

Northern Ireland lightweight Mark O'Hara made a successful start to his campaign with a 6-3 victory over tough Namibian opponent Mikka Shonena.

O'Hara said: "The first one is always tough and it was good to get it out of the way against a tough opponent. We've got a great team here and I don't see any reason why I can't go a long way in this competition."

* Press Association