Personal life
Khan was born and raised in Bolton, England. His family originated from Matore, Kahuta in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.
As well as speaking English, Khan also speaks Punjabi and Urdu. He was educated at Smithills School in Bolton, and Bolton Community College. Khan has two sisters and one brother, Haroon Khan, who is an amateur boxer. His first cousin is the English cricketer Sajid Mahmood. Khan is a practicing Muslim. As well as boxing, Khan enjoys playing sports such as football, basketball and cricket. 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. 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.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.
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 world 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. Khan's spokesman told reporters there was "nothing personal" between Khan and Harrison. 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..
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. 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". 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 he is just too young. 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.
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; Khan was stumbled with a left hook early on before Prescott landed a strong overhand right, flooring his opponent. He managed to get to his feet but following a further four punch barrage, Khan was knocked out and couldn't beat the count. It was officially over in 54 seconds. The fight was at the Manchester Evening News Arena on Khans Sky Box Office debut.
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 and p4p 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.
Light welterweight (2009–present)
Khan vs. Kotelnik
On 18 July 2009, Khan moved up to the light welterweight 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 became the third-youngest Briton to win a world title, at the age of 22.Khan vs. Salita
On 6 October 2009, 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 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. 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. It was the first ever loss of Salita's career.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.
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. "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.Khan vs. Maidana
Main article: Amir Khan vs. Marcos 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.[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". The fight was awarded the Boxing Writers Association of America Award for Fight of the Year.Khan vs. McCloskey
Main article: Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey
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.”Khan won a sixth-round technical decision after Paul McCloskey was cut by an accidental head-butt and could not go on in the estimation of the ring doctor. 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.
Khan had some trouble with an awkward and resilient southpaw, who was difficult to hit cleanly, but was both too quick and too busy for McCloskey, winning all six rounds on all three cards.
Outside boxing
Charitable and community 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.
- In July 2006 Khan became involved in the No Messin' campaign, which promotes child safety around British railways.
- 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. 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.
- 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.
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 a pedestrian who was running on a pelican crossing trying to avoid cars. Immediately prior to the accident Khan had swerved around a line of stopped cars and went through a traffic light that had just turned red. He was cleared of dangerous driving and the pedestrian received an interim payment of £40,000. 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. On 7 January 2008 Khan was fined £1000 and banned for 42 days for the speeding offence.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.
Titles
- Current WBA Super World Light-Welterweight Champion
- Former Commonwealth Lightweight Champion
- Former WBA International Lightweight Champion
- Former WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Champion [2x]
- Former IBF Inter-Continental Light-Welterweight Champion
Trainers
- Oliver Harrison (July 2005 – April 2008)
- Jorge Rubio (July 2008 – September 2008)
- Freddie Roach (October 2008 – present)
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.
