Amir Khan (boxer)

For other uses, see Amir Khan.

Amir Khan
Born	Amir Iqbal Khan (1986-12-08) 8 December 1986 Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
Nationality	British
Other names	King Khan
Statistics
Weight(s)	Light Welterweight
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	23
Wins	22
Wins by KO	16
Losses	1
Draws	0
No contests	0

Olympic medal record
Men's boxing
	2004 Athens	Lightweight

Amir Iqbal Khan (Punjabi/Template:Lang-ur) (born 8 December 1986) is a British boxer from Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. He became the WBA World light-welterweight champion after defeating Andreas Kotelnik on 18 July 2009 at the age of 22, making him Britain's third-youngest world champion after Naseem Hamed and Herbie Hide.

He was previously in the lightweight division, where he held the Commonwealth, WBO Inter-Continental and WBA International titles. He was also the youngest British Olympic boxing medalist, when he won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics at the age of 17. Khan is a British Pakistani descended from the Janjua Rajput clan. He is commonly known by the nickname King Khan.

Background

Khan was born and raised in Bolton, England. He is an avid supporter of his local football club, Bolton Wanderers, and uses the club's training facilities. His grandparents are originally from Rawalpindi in the Punjab province of Pakistan, whom then decided to emigrate to England in the 1950s.

Khan speaks fluent English, Urdu, and Punjabi. He was educated at Smithills School in Bolton, and Bolton Community College. His first cousin is the English cricketer Sajid Mahmood, and his younger brother, Haroon Khan, is an amateur boxer.

Amateur career

Khan began boxing competitively at the age of 11, with early honours including three English school title, three junior ABA titles, and gold at the 2003 Junior Olympics. 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, who was defeated by Khan in a second round stoppage.

Khan qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics by ending up 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. Khan finished his amateur career with a win/loss record of 100/2.

Professional career

2005–2006

Despite declaring after the 2004 Olympics that he would pursue a Gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Khan turned professional in 2005, signing with English boxing promoter, Frank Warren. It is speculated by some that this decision was influenced by a row with the English Amateur Boxing Association over the ticketing allocation for his family and friends at the English ABA Finals.

Khan moved from lightweight to light welterweight for a single fight against French fighter Rachid Drilzane on 9 December 2006, winning a 10 round decision. Khan experienced the first knockdown of his career when his opponent caught him with a good left. Drilzane had never scored a knockout in his 13 fight career. Khan returned to the lightweight division for future fights.

2007

On 7 April 2007, Khan defeated Steffy Bull in a three round technical knockout in Cardiff.

On 14 July 2007 he faced Willie Limond for the Commonwealth lightweight title. During the fight Khan was knocked down in the 6th round and appeared to be hurt badly. However, after another barrage of right hands, Khan weathered the storm and in the seventh round knocked down Limond.

On 6 October 2007 Khan faced Scott Lawton in his first defence of the Commonwealth lightweight title. Khan fought a mature and clinical fight, boxing with single punches for the majority of the first three rounds. Khan increased the pressure at the end of the third, and secured a TKO victory in the fourth. The referee stepped in when Lawton failed to fight back.

The most significant win of Khan's career up until that time came when he celebrated his 21st birthday by successfully defending his Commonwealth lightweight title against Graham Earl on 8 December 2007. Earl, rated the number one British lightweight and a former world title challenger, was considered Khan's toughest test by some way and a tough fight was expected; especially due to some ill-feeling between the pair in the run-up to the fight. However, it took Khan just 72 seconds to have the fight referee declare Earl in no fit state to continue. Khan later claimed that he rated this victory as the best of his career.

Early 2008

On 2 February 2008, Khan was scheduled to fight Martin Kristjansen but illness forced the Dane to withdraw and instead Khan beat Australian Gairy 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, Khan beat Kristjansen in the 7th round of a WBO world lightweight title eliminator. Before the contest, the fighters had been ranked 3rd and 4th respectively by the WBO. After Khan's victory, he was ranked 2nd, 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. An official spokesperson for Team Khan told reporters there was "nothing personal" between Khan and Harrison. Dean Powell, who has trained former world champions Duke McKenzie and Lloyd Honeyghan, will work with Khan until a decision on a permanent trainer is made, with Khan possibly looking to America. In the same month, Khan had a training session in Las Vegas with Roger Mayweather, trainer and uncle of Floyd Mayweather, Jr..

Khan fought on 21 June at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham against Irishman Michael Gomez. Gomez, a super featherweight who was reaching the end of his career and had lost the last three of his six fights, was described as a "backward step" in Khan's quest for a world title. Khan stated "I think I'm above this domestic level now" and made it clear that he expected a fast and explosive finish to the fight. However, after the fight, Khan said he felt he had moved up a level by "fighting world class fighters like Gomez". 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 defensive vulnerability.

Khan vs. Prescott

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 handspeed 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. In the early August, the lightweight Breidis Prescott was chosen as Khan's opponent by Jorge Rubio because he had trained a fighter who had narrowly lost to Prescott before and thought that Khan would be able to handle the bigger, heavier Prescott who had a prolific knockout record of 17 KOs in 19 contests. On 6 September 2008, Khan stepped up in weight and subsequently lost to lightweight Breidis Prescott in 54 seconds at the M.E.N. Arena on his Sky Box Office debut. Khan was knocked down within 25 seconds and struggled to make the count, Prescott downed him again within 41 seconds, moments later to win by knockout.

Khan vs. Fagan

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 World Lightweight 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 winning the WBO Inter-Continental title (vacated by Prescott) and the WBA Inter-Contenential Lightweight title. Khan knocked Fagan down twice in the first round and Fagan's corner threw in the towel in the second. After the fight it was revealed that Fagan had broken his ankle when falling after the first knock-down.

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 2009 at the Manchester Evening News Arena. Frank Warren promoted Khan's fight against the veteran Barrera, perhaps Khan's highest-profile opponent to date. Barrera was ranked #1 and Khan #9 in the WBO world lightweight rankings. Previous IBF and WBO world 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. 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.

On 14 March at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, Khan defeated Barrera after the fight was stopped towards the end of the 5th round due to Barrera suffering a severe cut reopened from his previous fight. This was caused by a clash of heads late in the opening round. With Barrera deemed in no position to fight on by the ringside doctor, the fight went to the scorecards where Khan was ahead on all three (50-44, 50-45, 50-45).

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."

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."

Trainer Freddie Roach has also hinted at his camp's desire to pit Khan against Ricky Hatton after the latter's fight with Roach's other star pupil, Manny Pacquiao.

Khan vs. Kotelnik

On 18 July, Khan moved up to the light-welterweight division to fight Andreas Kotelnik at the MEN Arena in Manchester for the WBA World Light-Welterweight title. Khan won by a unanimous decision, 120-108, 118-111, 118-111, and become the third-youngest Briton to win a world title, at the age of 22.

The winner of the fight was to face undefeated up-comer Dmitry Salita, who was the immediate contender. Salita said, "Amir Khan is just holding on to my championship right now." Salita said there was a 90-day negotiating period for Khan promoter Frank Warren and Salita’s promoter, Square Ring, to finalize a deal, and that both promoters had already had preliminary talks prior to Khan’s win. Khan would face Salita in his next bout in December 2009.

Khan vs. Salita

On 6 October, Frank Warren confirmed that Khan would defend his WBA World 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. Due to Khan being a practicing 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.

On 5 December, Amir Khan destroyed mandatory challenger Dmitry Salita in 76 seconds flooring the New Yorker three times with the first knock down coming after just ten seconds. It was the first ever loss of Salita's career.

Khan vs. Maidana

The winner of Khan-Salita had 90 days to sign the fight with Marcos Maidana. The WBA have now ordered Amir Khan to face mandatory opponent, Marcos Maidana. Khan himself has stated that he and his trainer Roach are both confident about taking on Maidana around March or April 2010. However, it has not been confirmed whether the fight will happen.

Outside boxing

In July 2006 Khan became involved in the No Messin' campaign, which promotes child safety around British railways. The same year he performed an Umrah (a pilgrimage to Mecca).

Charitable work

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Khan assisted in helping raise £1 million for victims of the disaster. After the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Khan went to Pakistan and handed out food parcels to children in a camp. He has also raised more than £6,000 for a firefighter who was badly burned while trying to save a family from an arson attack in Bolton.

Khan along with a few other famous faces took in a charity match in Valley parade in Bradford, the procedes of the match went to the family of the murdered police offericer Sharon Beshenivsky. He has spent £1 million of his own cash on opening the Gloves Community Centre and boxing gym in Bolton to get youths off the streets.

Media

• Amir 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.
• He has also been on a show called Proud Parents with his parents.
• In April 2008, Khan appeared on TV game show Beat the Star, and in January 2009 he guested on a celebrity version of ITV1's Family Fortunes, pitted against Jennie Bond.
• Amir also appeared at the MOBO Awards 2009 where he presented the award for best video.

Sports

As well as boxing, Khan also enjoys playing sports such as football, basketball and cricket.

Titles

• Current WBA World Light-Welterweight Champion
• Former Commonwealth Lightweight Champion
• Former IBF Inter-Continental Lightweight Champion
• Former WBA International Lightweight Champion
• Former WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Champion [2x]

Trainers

• Oliver Harrison – July 2005 – April 2008
• Jorge Rubio–July 2008–September 2008
• Freddie Roach–October 2008–present

Record

Amateur

• 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.

External links

• Amir Khan's official fan site
• Boxing record for Amir Khan from BoxRec (registration required)
• Amir Khan at IMDb
• Video interview Amir Khan in Leeds
• Amir Khan a victim of his own success
• britishboxing.net profile