AMIR Khan’s trainer at ringside on Saturday believes it will take at least another 12 months before the Bolton boxer is anything like the finished article.

Jesus Arevalo has been overseeing Khan’s work since the Bolton boxer returned home from a six-week training stint in Los Angeles.

Khan was under the wing of experienced trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood while in America.

But as Roach will be occupied at Manny Pacquiao’s showdown with Oscar de la Hoya in Las Vegas on the same night, Arevalo has stood in as deputy for Khan’s fight against tough Irishman Oisin Fagan at London’s ExCel Arena.

It will be Khan’s big return to the ring three months after his first professional defeat when he suffered a stunning 54-second first-round knockout by Colombian Breidis Prescott.

That defeat resulted in Khan sacking his Miami-based trainer Cuban Jorge Rubio after just one fight.

The American admitted that although Khan has “beautiful boxing skills”, he was surprised that after 19 fights how he still had so much of his amateur style.

He said: “I am surprised nobody has converted it into a professional style as that is what he needed in his last fight when he played right into his opponent’s hands.

“The first thing we told him to is ‘you have beautiful boxing skills, use them, it is not a three round fight.

“Save yourself and be more patient and with patience comes more smartness and you are able to see more things and he is at that point right now’.

“That makes him a better and a more dangerous fighter and that is what we are looking for.

“He has changed some things but there are still some things he needs to improve on and it will take 12 months if he wants to compete against a higher level of competition.

“He is on his way, but we don’t want to teach him too many things at once. He has the skills but needs the mentality and needs to improve on his craft and knowing more what to do.

“The sparring he did in the US helped him as those guys were totally different and helped to get him to pace himself.”