The mystery of why Amir Khan is the most polarising sporting figure in this country remains as perplexing as ever.
Even in as thrilling a victory as anyone could wish to see, Khan divides British opinion in roughly equal measure.
Love him? hate him? the twitterers and the bloggers carried on voicing their admiration or venting their spleen after he came through Saturday?s brutal war with Julio Diaz clutching an heroic win without which his future would have been plunged into crisis.
It seems that even fights this thrilling and courage so manfully evident are not enough to win over the anti-Khans.
Yet the allegedly suspect chin which engenders so much criticism only makes his fights all the more of a white-knuckle ride for the fans.
What more do they want? A nice guy?
Well, contrary to an extraordinary public misconception, Khan is not the arrogant braggart he seems perceived to be.
Although he talks articulately about boxing and his ambitions, he does so with courtesy for his opponents and a modest assessment of his achievements thus far, which do happen to include the winning of two world titles.
Also, since the early age at which he won silver for Britain at the Athens Olympics, he has been a remarkably mature ambassador for Anglo-Moslem relations here.
You do have to wonder if some people have a problem with that.
Because if he were being judged solely on his exploits in the ring and his conduct outside the ropes he would surely be regarded as a sporting role model.
As someone who deals with Khan on a fairly regular basis, take my word for it that this is a very respectable, most likeable young man born to the hard-working ethic of a thoroughly decent family,. Khan?s attitude to his recent set-backs has been to come back fighting.
He needed every ounce of that spirit to get up and overcome Diaz and his reward will be a December chance of regaining his world light-welterweight crown, probably with a chance of revenge against either Danny Garcia, who stopped him, or Lamont Peterson, who cheated him.
Thereafter, he may move up to a pound-for-shot at Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas. Of course there would be no guarantee of victory there but when deciding whether to offer him their support, the British boxing public might consider the excitement he brings to their lives.
Khan is a natural-born fighter and the risks he takes make him big box office in America.
They also commit him to so many battles and the absorbing of so many heavy punches that it might become wiser for him to call a halt to his career sooner rather than later.
We should enjoy him while we can.
