BURY ABC's Olympic silver medal sensation Amir Khan, has become the first amateur boxer in 53 years to win the Young Boxer of the Year Award.

The 17-year-old was an overwhelming choice by members of the Boxing Writers' Club.

Khan, coached by the Bury club's Mike Jelley, was the only British boxer to qualify for the Athens Olympics and made a mockery of his youth and inexperience to reach the lightweight final.

He was eventually outpointed by legendary Cuban, Mario Kindelan, the defending world and Olympic champion.

The Bolton student will collect his prize at the Boxing Writers' Club annual dinner at London's Savoy Hotel on October 18.

In winning the award Khan follows in the footsteps of such luminaries as Randolph Turpin, John Conteh, Barry McGuigan, Frank Bruno, Naseem Hamed and Ricky Hatton.

The youngster will be at ringside as guest of Frank Warren tonight when Manchester's Hatton takes on American Mike 'No Joke' Stewart for his WBU light-welterweight title at the Manchester Arena tonight (Friday).

Warren is just one of half a dozen promoters ready to welcome Khan into the professional game with open arms should he decide to turn his back on the amateurs.

The Amateur Boxing Association are keen to keep him in the unpaid ranks at least until the next Olympics in Beijing in 2008.

But the funding has to be to Team Khan's liking and according to his agent Asif Vali, the deal the governing body offered them last Friday will have to be increased if they aren't to make the big move.

The ABA have offered Khan £280,000 over four years but, according to Vali, much of that funding would have been already in place despite his success in Athens.

Vali described the deal as "paltry" and said it amounted to an increase of £9,000 a year for winning the medal.

"The package has four elements," he said.

"The first is the lottery grant which has gone up by £9,000 because Amir is now a category A athlete.

"The second element is £25,000 of expenses to cover his travelling and medical needs, which although is being increased, was already in place.

"The third is a two-day, part-time job working to develop boxing for Liverpool City Council, which if he doesn't want to do will see him lose £10,000 per year.

"Amir is a student and travelling to Liverpool would be time consuming and he would need to have someone with him.

"I'm sure I could get him a role at Bury or Bolton Councils which would be much more convenient.

"The fourth element is a £10,000 towards his education costs.

"Everyone wants Amir to stay amateur but I have to secure the best financial package for him and this is paltry.

"It is only about £9,000 more than if he hadn't won the medal. People need to know that he is not refusing a mega-package, he is not ungrateful but there are two sides to the story.

"We are not rushing into anything and have not dismissed anything. We have asked the ABA for clarification on a number of points and hope to have another meeting with them in the next few days."

Khan met Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Sport Minister Richard Caborn at this week's Labour Party Conference in Brighton to support London's bid for the 2012 Olympics.