AMIR Khan WILL be ringside on Friday night for the Amateur Boxing Association finals at ExCel in London's Docklands.

The Olympic silver medallist had been expected to emulate previous light-welterweight winners like John H Stracey and Ricky Hatton to add to his Athens achievement.

But after withdrawing from the tournament prior to the quarter-finals over a ticket row, Khan will have to content himself with watching his rivals battle it out.

Khan will also receive a special ABA award for his outstanding achievements in amateur boxing this year.

The Khan camp's decision to attend represents a slight thaw in their relationship with the ABA, which had frozen over the ticket problems and allegations of unfair treatment in a fight involving his younger brother Haroon.

Earlier this week they had intimated they would not attend in protest over Haroon's controversial defeat in a Golden Gloves Schoolboy fight in Liverpool.

But now Khan will be guest of honour to watch Londoner Michael Grant fight Swindon puncher Jamie Cox for the title he had intended to aim at.

And he will also watch history in the making as brothers Darran and Stewart Langley bid to become the first identical twins ever to win ABA titles in the same year.

Light-flyweight Darran and flyweight Stewart are both former champions but in 2002 and 2004 respectively.

And they believe having their brother in another final will only serve to move them closer to their unprecedented double success.

Darran said: "Both of us being in a final is great because when we see each other doing well it really spurs us on. We've got a friendly rivalry and we both want each other too win - but obviously I want to do it better than him."

Meanwhile the ABA learned today the amateur sport had been allocated £4.27million in funding over the next four years.