Amir Khan (boxer)

Amir Iqbal Khan (Urdu: عامر اقبال خان – born 8 December 1986), is a British professional boxer who is the former unified WBA (Super) & IBF light welterweight champion.^[1]

He previously boxed in the lightweight division, where he held the Commonwealth, WBO Inter-Continental, and WBA International titles.

Khan is the youngest British Olympic boxing medalist, winning silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics at the age of 17. He is also one of the youngest British world champions ever, winning the WBA light welterweight title at age 22.

Personal life

Khan was born and raised in Bolton, England, in a British Pakistani family. His family originated from Matore, Kahuta in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.^[2] He belongs to the Janjua Rajput clan, a royal martial and warrior tribe of northern Punjab.^[3]

Besides English, Khan also speaks Punjabi and Urdu. He was educated at Smithills School in Bolton,^[4] and Bolton Community College. Khan has two sisters and one brother, Haroon Khan, who is an amateur boxer^[5] and has represented Pakistan at an international level. His first cousin is the English cricketer Sajid Mahmood. Khan is a practicing Muslim.^[6] As well as boxing, Khan enjoys playing sports such as cricket, football and basketball.^[7] He is an avid supporter of his local football club, Bolton Wanderers, and uses the club's training facilities.

Amateur career

Khan began to box competitively at the age of 11, with early honours including three English school titles, three junior ABA titles, and gold at the 2003 Junior Olympics.^[8] In early 2004 he won a gold medal at the European Student Championships in Lithuania, and in South Korea several months later he won world junior lightweight title after fighting five times in seven days. One of his notable early amateur fights was against Victor Ortíz, whom he defeated in a second round stoppage.^[9]

Khan qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics by finishing in first place at the 1st AIBA European 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He was Britain's sole representative in boxing at the Athens Games, winning a silver medal at the age of 17 in the lightweight boxing category. He was Britain's youngest Olympic boxer since Colin Jones in 1976. He lost in the final to Mario Kindelan, the Cuban who had also beaten him several months earlier in the pre-Olympic match-ups in Greece. In 2005 he avenged the two losses by beating the 34-year-old Kindelan in his last amateur fight.

• 2003 – Won a gold medal at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.
• 2004 – Won a gold medal at the European Student Championships and the World Junior Championships.
• 2004 – Won the Strandja Cup to qualify for the Olympics in Athens
• 2004 – Won an amateur match against Victor Ortíz, who was stopped in the second round.
• 2004 – Won a silver medal at the Olympics, beating Marios Kaperonis, Dimitar Stilianov, Jong Sub Baik and Serik Yeleuov. He lost to Mario Kindelan in the final.
• 2005 – Beat Craig Watson on points in the ABA Championships.
• 2005 – Won the last match of his amateur career beating Mario Kindelan 19–13 at the Reebok Stadium.

Professional career

Lightweight (2008–2009)

On 2 February 2008, Khan was scheduled to fight Martin Kristjansen, but illness forced the Dane to withdraw and instead Khan beat Australian Gary St Clair in a contest for the Commonwealth lightweight title at the ExCel Arena in London. This was his first fight to last all 12 rounds and was won via a unanimous 120–108 scoring from all three ringside judges.

On 5 April 2008, Khan beat Kristjansen in the seventh round of a WBO lightweight Title Eliminator. Before the contest, the fighters had been ranked third and fourth respectively by the WBO. After Khan's victory, he was ranked second, behind only Joel Casamayor.

Following the fight, Khan split from his trainer Oliver Harrison, the trainer for all of his previous 17 professional contests. The breakup was blamed on Harrison's concerns that Khan's public engagements were interfering with his fight preparations.^[10] Khan's spokesman told reporters there was "nothing personal" between Khan and Harrison.^[11] Dean Powell, who has trained former world champions Duke McKenzie and Lloyd Honeyghan, worked with Khan until a decision on a permanent trainer was made. In the same month, Khan had a training session in Las Vegas with Roger Mayweather, trainer and uncle of Floyd Mayweather, Jr.^[10]

Khan fought on 21 June 2008, at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham against Irishman Michael Gomez. Gomez, a super featherweight champion who was reaching the end of his career and had lost the last one of his six fights, was described as a "backward step" in Khan's quest for a world title.^[12] Khan stated "I think I'm above this level now" and made it clear that he expected a fast and explosive finish to the fight knocking down Gomez two times in the fight and a great finish. However, after the fight, Khan said he felt he had moved up a level by "fighting a good fighters like Gomez".^[13] Khan received criticism for being knocked down in the second round, but proved his resilience by coming back stronger after this. Former boxing champion Barry McGuigan seemed unimpressed after the fight and said Khan needed at least two more fights before he should consider a world title bout. Many journalists echoed McGuigan's opinion of Khan's needs to work on his defence.

A month after the Gomez fight, it was announced that Jorge Rubio would become Khan's new trainer. Rubio was chosen because Khan thought that he had very good chemistry with the Cuban trainer. Khan said, "Rubio was showing me all these new training techniques, and I felt so comfortable because it suited my style. I knew I had the hand speed and the footwork to do it and I knew it was going to make me a much better fighter". Many boxing experts thought that Rubio needed to concentrate on improving Khan's defence and Khan's father agreed that he was showing great defensive skills during his training.

Shock defeat

In early August, the lightweight Breidis Prescott was chosen by Rubio as Khan's next opponent. Rubio had trained a fighter who had narrowly lost to Prescott before and thought that Khan would be able to handle the bigger Prescott, who had a prolific knock-out record of 17 KOs in 19 contests. On 6 September 2008, Khan was a huge favourite and was hoping to win a world title by the end of the year. Prescott came out fast in the fight and landed some good shots; a stiff jab that slightly buckled Khan's knees foreshadowed what was to come. Prescott landed a left hook that clipped Khan's temple, and turned his legs into jelly. Instead of holding, Khan tried to punch back, and ate a left hook, right hook combo from Prescott that sent him crashing to the canvas. He managed to get to his feet, but was stumbling about badly. Prescott ended it for good with another left that put Khan down again. This time, he was unable to get up. It was officially over in 54 seconds. The fight was at the Manchester Evening News Arena on Khans Sky Box Office debut.^[14]

Following his defeat to Prescott, Frank Warren sacked Khan's trainer Jorge Rubio and replaced him with Freddie Roach. Khan began training with Roach in the United States, where he sparred with then WBC lightweight champion and pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao, who is also being trained by Roach. On 6 December 2008, Khan recorded a comeback win against Oisin Fagan in a second-round stoppage. With victory, Khan won the vacant WBA International lightweight title. Khan knocked Fagan down twice in the first round and Fagan's corner threw in the towel in the second, after being knocked down again.

Khan vs. Barrera

In early 2009, it was announced that Khan would fight former seven-time and three-weight world champion Marco Antonio Barrera on 14 March, at the Manchester Evening News Arena.^[15] Frank Warren promoted Khan's fight against the veteran Barrera, perhaps Khan's highest-profile opponent to date. Barrera was ranked #1 and Khan #5 in the WBO world lightweight rankings. Previous IBF and WBO lightweight title holder Nate Campbell was stripped of the belts after moving up to the light welterweight division and Khan's promoter Frank Warren and Barrera's promoter Don King lobbied the WBO to elevate the Khan-Barrera fight to a world lightweight title eliminator.^[16] However, the world-title status was instead given to the fight between Juan Manuel Márquez and Juan Diaz, ranked #2 and #3 respectively by the WBO.^[17]

On 14 March 2009, at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, Khan defeated Barrera, by a technical decision. The fight was stopped towards the end of the fifth round due to Barrera suffering a cut in the first round, which resulted from a clash of heads. With Barrera deemed in no position to fight on by the ringside doctor, the fight then went to the scorecards where Khan was ahead on all three (50–44, 50–45, 50–45). With victory, Khan defended his WBA International lightweight title and also won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title.

Frank Warren was sufficiently impressed with Khan's performance that he vowed to land a world title fight for him before the end of the year.

"There was a lot on his shoulders, but I always felt he could rise to the big occasion. I'd like to see him get a belt round his waist by the end of this year."^[18]

Khan also commented on the fight, saying:

"I felt so completely easy, catching him with jabs. I felt like I was on a better level than him. The jabbing and patience – I felt so strong. You could see the difference. I had to take some shots in that match. I made some mistakes in the past and I'm not going to make them again."^[18]

Light welterweight (2009–present)

WBA champion

On 18 July 2009, Khan moved up to the light welterweight division to fight Andreas Kotelnik at the MEN Arena in Manchester for the WBA light welterweight title. Khan won by a unanimous decision, 120–108, 118–111, 118–111, and became the third-youngest Briton to win a world title, at the age of 22.^[19]

On 6 October 2009, Frank Warren confirmed that Khan would defend his WBA light welterweight title against undefeated Ukrainian American boxer Dmitry Salita, the mandatory challenger, on 5 December, at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.^[20] Due to Khan being a practising Muslim and Salita being an Orthodox Jew, the fight was hyped as a religious clash by the media, referring to it as a "battle of faiths" or "holy war", though Khan and Salita have both denied such claims.^[21][22] On 5 December 2009, Khan defeated mandatory challenger Salita in 76 seconds, winning by technical knockout in the first round. Salita was knocked down three times, the first time after just 10 seconds into the fight.^[23] It was the first ever loss of Salita's career.^[24]

Signing with Golden Boy Promotions

On 17 January 2010, Khan announced he had split with British promoter Frank Warren and signed a deal with Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, with Khan's fights moving back to ITV.^[25]

Khan vs. Malignaggi

On 9 March 2010, Golden Boy Promotions confirmed that WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan and former light welterweight world champion Paulie Malignaggi would hold a press conference in London to announce their world title bout set for 15 May at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. This was Khan's first bout in the United States of America. The fight was for the WBA light welterweight title, which Khan won in the 11th round.^[26] "He (Khan) is stronger, bigger and faster. He was very busy, I couldn't keep up with him" stated Malignaggi in his post-fight interview. Immediately after the fight, Khan stated he wanted to fight Marcos Maidana next, and that he would not be leaving the light welterweight division until he had unified the various belts, suggesting that the way to do this would be for him to fight Maidana, and then go on to face the winner of a Devon Alexander vs. Timothy Bradley match.^[27]

Khan vs. Maidana

Khan successfully defended his title for the third time against WBA interim champion and mandatory challenger, Marcos Maidana on December 11, 2010, in Las Vegas.^[28] Khan dominated the fight early and knocked down Maidana in the first round with multiple body shots. He eventually won a unanimous decision despite a worrying 10th-round wobble when Maidana hurt Khan. Maidana responded positively to the fight by saying, "It was a hell of a fight. He (Amir) is a great, skillful and fast boxer. And he proved that he can take a punch. He is a great champion".^[29] The fight was awarded the Boxing Writers Association of America Award for Fight of the Year.^[30]

Khan took on Paul McCloskey in his next fight. The 31-year-old Irishman was unbeaten in 22 fights and is ranked world number 10. Khan said: “I am delighted that this fight has finally been put together following some tough negotiations. This is a matchup the British public want to see and will be a fantastic fight between two of the best light-welterweights in the country.” ^[31]

Khan won a sixth-round technical decision after Paul McCloskey was cut by an unintentional head-butt and could not go on in the estimation of the ring doctor.^[32] The heads of Khan and McCloskey collided about two minutes into the sixth round, causing a bad cut on the inside of the Irishman’s left eyebrow. Another tactical few rounds followed, with Khan the main aggressor. In the decisive sixth, a five-punch combination from Khan staggered McCloskey and moments later the pair went toe-to-toe before McCloskey wheeled away and noticed blood coming from around his left eye.^[33]

Khan had some trouble with the awkward and resilient southpaw, who was difficult to hit cleanly, but he was both too quick and too busy for McCloskey, winning all six rounds on all three cards.^[34]

Khan vs Judah unification

After a war of words with Judah on Twitter, Amir Khan agreed on 31 May 2011 to fight Zab Judah in attempt to unify the IBF and WBA Light Welterweight titles in Las Vegas on 23 July.^[35][36] Amir Khan started the fight with a left jab. Round 1 saw a busy Amir Khan as he fought from the outside and kept Judah away with jabs and straights. All four rounds were taken by Khan. Ultimately on the 5th round Zab was taken down with a right uppercut to the body, in which at first commentators believed it was a low blow, since Judah was showing signs of agonising pain, but when it was seen from a different camera angle, it was right on the belt, leading to an 18th knockout for Amir Khan in his career so far.^[37]

Khan vs. Peterson

Lamont Peterson defeated Khan for the WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles in Washington DC on 10 December 2011 by split decision. Khan was deducted 2 points in rounds 7 and 12 by the referee Joe Cooper for pushing. Peterson and Khan both boxed well and a re-match looks certain. Two judges scored it 113-112 to Peterson, with the other 115-110 to Khan (originally announced as 114-111 to Khan).

Professional boxing record

Outside boxing

Charitable and community work

• After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Khan assisted in helping raise £1 million for victims of the disaster.^[39] After the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Khan went to Pakistan and handed out food parcels to children in a camp.^[40]

• In July 2006 Khan became involved in the No Messin' campaign, which promotes child safety around British railways.^[41]

• In 2008, he raised more than £6,000 for a firefighter who was badly burned while trying to save a family from an arson attack in Bolton.^[42][43] Khan along with a few other famous faces took part in a charity football match at Valley Parade in Bradford, the proceeds of the match went to the family of the murdered police officer Sharon Beshenivsky.
• He has spent £1 million of his own money on opening the Gloves Community Centre and boxing gym in Bolton to get youths off the streets.^[44][45]

• He has shown support for the White Ribbon Campaign, which encourages men to play a role in ending violence against women. (WRC)

Media

• Khan was involved in a TV programme for Channel 4, Amir Khan's Angry Young Men, which consisted of three 50-minute episodes. The programme centred around troubled angry men and aimed to use the disciplines of boxing, coupled with faith and family values, to help re-focus their lives and steer them away from trouble in the future. It was screened in August/September 2007.

• Khan has been nominated for the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.^[46]

Motoring offences and incidents

On 23 October 2007, Khan was convicted of careless driving at Bolton Crown Court and given a six-month driving ban and a £1000 fine. The conviction related to an incident that occurred on 2 March 2006 in the centre of Bolton, when Khan's car hit and broke the leg of Geoffrey Hatton, a pedestrian who was using a pelican crossing while Khan was travelling at 47 mph in a 30 mph zone and overtaking in the wrong lane.^[47] He was cleared of dangerous driving but charged with the lesser offence of careless driving^[48] and the pedestrian received an interim payment of £40,000.^[49] Geoffrey Hatton never fully recovered from the incident and died soon afterwards with Khan passing on his sympathies.^[50] Khan was also summoned to appear in court in Rochdale on 26 October 2007, accused of travelling in excess of 140 mph on the M62 motorway on 31 December 2006. He failed to appear and the case was adjourned to 2 November 2007, with the District Judge warning that he would issue an arrest warrant if the accused did not appear by then. He was also charged with not producing his driving licence and insurance certificate.^[51] On 7 January 2008 Khan was fined £1000 and banned for 42 days for the speeding offence.^[52]

On 12 July 2009, Khan was once again involved in a motoring incident, this time a collision with a young cyclist. However, no action will be taken against Khan after police concluded that he was not to blame for the incident in Moor Lane following interviews with a number of witnesses.^[53]

Trainers

• Oliver Harrison (July 2005 – April 2008)^[54]
• Jorge Rubio (July 2008 – September 2008)^[55]
• Freddie Roach (October 2008 – present)

Titles

See also

• Ricky Hatton
• Freddie Roach
• List of current world boxing champions
• Bolton, England

References

External links

• Amir Khan's official photos
• Amir Khan's official record
• Professional boxing record for Amir Khan from BoxRec
• Amir Khan at the Internet Movie Database