TEENAG BOXER Khaliq Miah is just two wins away from being crowned the best in Britain after making it through to the last four in the English Schoolboys ABA Championships.

Miah, of Northolt Boxing Club, defeated Essex and Eastern Counties Schools Champion Dean Porter in the quarter-finals of the competition last Sunday.

He earned a majority points decision over three, twominute rounds, taking him into the semi-finals which are due to take place in Surrey in two weeks.

Whatever happens there, the 14-year-old is guaranteed to be ranked in the top four in the country for his age and weight class.

Khaliq's dad, Shakeet, said: "It was quite a tough fight for him. He got a little bit marked up but apart from that I thought he won quite comfortably.

"The other boy was really strong and came at him.

"He actually fought his [Porter's] fight rather than doing his own boxing so that will be a lesson for the next round."

Miah began his run of success in the U57kg competition by winning the Middlesex title and then defeating an opponent from Southgate to become the London Champion.

He saw off the Home Counties Champion on January 31 and a week later got the better of Porter, from Colchester ABC, to ensure he at least equalled the top four ranking he achieved in his first season of boxing, two years ago. And Miah now has his sights set on number one after claiming a couple of other notable scalps in recent months.

Eight weeks ago he beat Repton's John Lee King, the 2008 British Champion and European silver medallist, and a month later got the better of another British Champion, Jackson Collins from the Priory Park club in Birmingham.

Miah, a member of the Northolt club that produced Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison, has only been boxing for three years since his father asked if he and his 11-year-old brother, Shahad, wanted to try boxing or Muay Thai kickboxing, which is Shakeet's speciality.

"My dad started encouraging me," said Miah, whose idols include American Floyd Mayweather and Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto. "I was just sitting at home doing nothing so I thought I might as well do something with my life.

"It's going well at the moment. "I like the running, I enjoy everything about it.

"Boxing is a very enjoyable, disciplined sport, it keeps you fit, keeps you off the streets and keeps you healthy."

Even the idea of getting hit does not put him off.

"You don't really feel anything because all the adrenaline is going through you," he went on. "But it feels better when you hit them!

"If you move your head you shouldn't really get hit and I don't stand in the same spot."

Shahad is beginning to follow in Khaliq's footsteps and is set for his second fight at Brunel University this week.