Amir Khan is ready to add a few more chapters to his decorated career

Chris Walker

Amir Khan is ready to add a few more chapters to his decorated career image

Amir Khan could be forgiven for believing it is 2005 all over again.

Back then, Khan was the recipient of widespread adulation following his heroic exploits at the previous year’s Olympics, where Khan earned a silver medal as an innocent 17-year-old.

With his summer antics confirming him as that season’s face of British boxing, both the amateur and professional ranks tugged at Amir’s heartstrings in the months following the Athens Games, but it was the financial lure of the pro game, accompanied by the thirst to pursue world titles, which turned Khan’s baby brown eyes towards a fresh challenge. The Amir Khan Roadshow was officially up and running and the revolution would be televised.

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Fighting frequently on free-to-air TV, the Brit of Pakistani heritage saw his momentum increase in every corner of the UK as fans consistently paid to support him. When defensive vulnerabilities emerged, most notably against Scotland’s Willie Limond in 2007, Khan became an even bigger attraction as his immature recklessness combined with the fact he was a young colt constantly trading with renowned warhorses, ensured he was a fighter who simply had to be seen.

A 54-second catastrophe against Breidis Prescott in 2008 had some rushing to prepare eulogies, but Khan rebounded splendidly, highlighted by a unanimous decision win over Andriy Kotelnik in July 2009 to become WBA light-welterweight champion and a genuine PPV attraction.

A lot has happened to Khan, 31, between then and our present conversation. Preparing for a showdown with the unfancied Samuel Vargas (29-3-2, 14 KOs) Khan (32-4, 20 KOs) is in the midst of a second UK run following a lengthy stay in America, where he experienced an equal measure of triumph and heartbreak.

 

 

His first reign as world champion earned stellar appraisals from stateside promoters and it was Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy group that acquired his signature. Over a decade on, and with several tales of woe and happiness now common knowledge, Khan is desperate to add a few more chapters to an already decorated story. And he wishes to do so in front of his native audience.

“The plan was to always come back and give my UK fans a few more big fights,” Khan reveals to Sporting News, while enjoying a relaxing morning before heading to his Bolton gym to resume training under the studious watch of famed cornerman, Joe Goossen. “I’d had a look at what [Matchroom Boxing promoter] Eddie Hearn had done for British boxing whilst I was out in the States performing in big fights and I knew he was capable of getting me a big fight like he had done for his other fighters. I was coming back for the first time in a long time, so it was important to get out there and give a little something back to the fans that have been there for me since day one. Liverpool for my first fight [back in England] against [Phil] Lo Greco was a great experience and now it’s back to Birmingham on Sept. 8th for the Vargas fight.”

Khan’s second UK tour has its origins in some of the darkest days of his often-illustrious career. Separated from his senses courtesy of the devastating accuracy of the naturally bigger Canelo Alvarez in May 2016, Khan embarked on an almost-two-year hiatus that included volatile social media spats, a much-needed hand operation and a brief stint as a reality TV darling in the Australian jungle. Once typified for his blistering handspeed and immense courage, Khan had become a boxing afterthought as industry figureheads debated the viability of a potential comeback.

“The return was always on. Retirement was never on my mind. You can take that from me,” Khan says. “A lot of people don’t know this but I’ve had an injury in my right hand ever since I fought Baz Carey in my second fight. I needed work doing on it then, but I was in too much of a groove and I wanted to keep fighting at the rate I was back then. I was out every six or eight weeks back then so I thought it’d be okay, but the higher up you go the more it became a factor.”

He adds: “Walking to the ring against Canelo, all I could think about was the pain in my hand. It should’ve been a good moment going into the ring in Vegas against a fighter like that, but all I could do was think about my hand and how I didn’t want anything bad to happen to it. The manner of the result, the shot he caught me with, and the way I was laying there meant I wasn’t going to take any more chances with it and so I finally got it sorted. My last fight with Lo Greco is the first time you’ve seen me with two good hands since the early days of my career.”

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As well as tolerating the brutality of Alvarez, Khan’s American adventure encompassed disaster in fights with Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Controversy surrounded the former with the Washington DC native embroiled in a drug scandal afterwards that also shelved a potential rematch, but the setback against the Philadelphia-bred boxer is the defeat that hurts Khan most. A fourth-round pummelling from Garcia, emphasized horrifically when witnessing the action from the referee’s headcam, lingered long with Khan.

“It was a hard night. Hard on my mind and hard on my body,” reflects Khan, forced to backtrack to the summer of 2012 for the most damning statistic on his 36-fight ledger. “I had peaked for the rematch with Peterson and I was in the best shape of my career, but then the fight gets called off the week before so what am I supposed to do? Talks with Garcia’s people got underway pretty much straight away so I didn’t have much of a break before going into camp again. The camp for Garcia was one where I was just angry throughout and if you see footage of me sparring then you’ll see I was just having wars in there all the time and that’s not me. It was essentially a 17 or 18-week camp for Garcia and that showed because everything he hit me with hurt me and made a lasting effect.”

With every Khan massacre came wholesale changes and today, Khan can proudly declare that his talent has been crafted by a number of esteemed mentors including Freddie Roach, Virgil Hunter and current trainer, Goossen. Each acclaimed coach has enjoyed minor moments of success with Khan, joyous occurrences such as his becoming division ruler at 140 poundss with resounding stoppage wins over Paulie Malignaggi and Zab Judah. Or an eventful welter run where fights predicted to be close with Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander became grand shows of dominance, as Khan showed off his vast array of skills.

Returning to Britain slightly wiser and more experienced, but just as fragile, Khan is ready to catapult himself back into the mouth-watering showdowns he was once famed for. That could mean a long-awaited clash with north England rival Kell Brook.

“The time is probably right for me and Kell now because of what he’s achieved in recent years. If you go back all those years when he was calling me out, what did he have to offer me?” Khan asks. “It makes me laugh because I was in New York with Malignaggi and Vegas beating Judah, and what was he doing then? No one knew who he was then. Yet I was just supposed to walk away from all these big TV fights in America to come back and fight someone just because he was making a bit of noise about me. Boxing doesn’t work like that. I know that and Kell deep down knows that. One thing I’ll say now though is that he’s proved to be a good fighter by winning a world title and it’s definitely a fight that interests me a lot more now than it used to.”

With his immediate radar dominated by the image of Vargas, Khan is prudent enough to not let the threats of his fellow welterweight contenders deter his upcoming challenge. His life in the spotlight since relinquishing the England vest has seen Khan develop a mental toughness suited to his chosen career and it has also ensured that his profile has remained lofty enough to attract enthusiastic opponents. Khan’s celebrity status, one he plays down, mixed with his box office appeal, is a valuable currency. And whilst Amir teeters around governing body rankings, he can be certain that opportunities will always present themselves.

“First of all, even though I’m possibly someone that people recognize, I turn down far more work than I accept,” he insists. “The celebrity jungle [“I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!”] was more about the experience than getting my name out there, but I get invited to all sorts of events in London and I never bother turning up at any of them. I’d much prefer to see people recognize me for my charity work because that can make a difference.”

He continues: “I’ve stayed relevant because I’ve fought the best my whole career and I’ve never once walked away from a challenge. I just didn’t want one world title at light-welter, I wanted to rule the division. I didn’t fight Canelo for the money, I fought him to stand there after the fight and tell the world that I had beaten him. You don’t get many chances in life to be great, so it’s important you take them when you do.”

An obvious example of pursuing the aforementioned greatness occurred in 2014 when Khan engaged in detailed negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Jr. “Money” posted a Twitter poll asking who he should fight next, with Khan and Argentinean mauler, Marcos Maidana, the only candidates. Khan received the most votes, but that’s all he locked down as Mayweather went ahead and fought Maidana twice, winning both times via decision. In a storybook career congested with many splendid moments, the absence of a Mayweather fight on his slate remains a slight regret for Khan.

“The fight was almost done and it wasn’t even about money for me,” Khan says. “A lot of people do see Mayweather as the jackpot fight, the one where they make all their money and retire, but I wasn’t getting that good a deal out of it. It was purely about making history for me because I believe I had certain things in my game that meant I could go out there and cause an upset. If you ask me, I think that fight fell apart because I went on Twitter and told the world it was almost done. I don’t think that went down well with Floyd and people in his team because they have to control every single part of the deal and that means Floyd announces the fight before anyone.”

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The recurring dream of scalping Mayweather’s cherished zero has evaporated like several other fantasies Khan possessed throughout his 13-year professional crusade. Today, Khan, an outspoken 31-year-old with the volume turned a tad higher than in his teenage days, is exploring multiple options just like he was during the long hot summer of 2004.

The awkward fringe that blanketed his forehead is long gone, and so is any layer of invincibility, but the hunger that took him from the terraced streets of Bolton to the grand palaces of boxing still exists, and that might just be sufficient to ensure a fairytale finish to his career.

Chris Walker