James DeGale was ringside to see it with his own eyes: Olympic medals are great to dine out on, but they’re like so much scrap metal once the vest comes off.

One minute DeGale was witnessing 2000 gold medallist Audley Harrison attempting to suck the life out of the MEN Arena with another rancid display. The next he was watching Amir Khan, silver medallist in 2004, have his legs turned to spaghetti and his myth exploded.

Perhaps DeGale, who claimed middleweight gold in Beijing, should have stayed in, polished his gong and started making plans for London 2012. After Saturday night, he could be forgiven for thinking the pro game’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Khan was blown away by unheralded Colombian Breidis Prescott, a man who had knocked out 17 of his previous 19 opponents, inside a minute. We had been warned.

Floored by the light-punching Willie Limond last year, floored again by the past-it Michael Gomez in June, Khan’s world title aspirations were already looking fanciful ahead of his date with Prescott.

The ugly side of boxing

Promoter Frank Warren was quick to point out that it was new trainer Jorge Rubio who had recommended the 25-year-old from Barranquilla as an opponent. It could be one of the shortest unions in boxing history.

After Khan had regained his faculties (incidentally, he should never have been allowed to box on after the first knockdown) he trotted out the usual platitudes about “coming back stronger” and “going back to the drawing board”.

Forget the psychological scarring, which will be significant. The real problem is, while Khan was undoubtedly careless in rushing in like he did, if he’s chinny, he’s chinny, and no amount of training is going to remedy that.

Khan is still only 21 and has time on his side, but any fighter worth his salt, having seen what Prescott did to him on Saturday night, will now have his number.

What Khan didn’t deserve was the scorn of the Manchester crowd, many of whom cheered him in as a hero and booed him out as a scoundrel, as if he’d deliberately got himself ironed out. It was the ugly side of boxing and despicable to see.

All in all, it was a disastrous night for Warren, who had already had to sit through Harrison’s dismal display and watch Alex Arthur lose his WBO super-featherweight crown to Nicky Cook.

"It's all a bit morbid in here..."

With Khan making his debut on pay-per-view, it was also a night when Sky had its fingers burnt. Some boxing fans, irritated at being asked to shell out for a largely unproven fighter, will find it hard to sympathise.

What with Enzo Maccarinelli losing his WBO cruiserweight crown earlier this year and Joe Calzaghe jumping ship in acrimonious circumstances a couple of months back, Warren is running out of headline acts.

Not that Audley Harrison has ever been a convincing headline act, although judging by his reception at the MEN, he might make a decent King Rat.

“I’m still believing, still dreaming, still certain I can get there,” said the 36-year-old heavyweight before his fight.

“I teamed up with Frank Warren because he’s got the connections to get me a world title fight, and I’m sure that will happen.”

Following Harrison’s points defeat of Brazilian George Arias, who challenged Johnny Nelson for his world cruiserweight title as long ago as 2001, Warren looked like he’d rather fight for the heavyweight crown himself than promote the Londoner again.

Since his first defeat to Danny Williams back in 2005, Harrison’s fights have had more than a whiff of pantomime about them.

On Saturday, he was half-cheered, half-booed into the ring. The cheers quickly subsided after the opening bell, and even the boos had dried up by the middle rounds. I can only assume the crowd were sobbing into their programmes.

Harrison was serenaded from the ring with that lovely old hymn “You’re Rubbish and You Know You Are” (albeit a slightly bluer version) while Arias bowed to all corners of the arena to rapturous applause. To be honest, it was all a bit sad.

Too sad for Nicky Cook’s liking. “It’s all a bit morbid in here,” said the Romford fighter as he rocked up for the post-fight news conference, “someone died?” “Only Amir Khan’s career,” some wit shot back.

Throw in Khan being comforted by his manager and Rubio staring into a corner on the other side of the room and you had a moment that perfectly captured the elation and desolation that coexist within the sport.

It was a shame for Cook that he had to share in Khan and Warren’s gloom, because the 28-year-old had boxed beautifully in defeating Edinburgh’s Arthur.

Cook, who was unsuccessful in a world title bid at featherweight last summer, was too quick and too cute for his 30-year-old opponent, often beating Arthur to the punch and connecting with right crosses for fun.

Arthur, who maintained he hadn’t struggled to make weight this time round, looked listless and sluggish from the start, and despite his protestations, was well beaten.

Arthur, who has had trouble making the 9st 4lb limit for years now, will probably move up to lightweight. Cook will be back in December, and Arthur couldn’t have given his belt to a classier guy.

After the final round Cook grabbed his rival's head, a head he had been trying to dislodge for the previous 12 rounds, and kissed it.

“We’ve exchanged numbers and Alex is going to come down to London with his family and we’re going to go out for a meal,” said Cook afterwards.

It was a heartening moment. A bit of perspective cutting through all the hoopla and hyperbole after a wild night of boxing.