By Boxing Bob Newman
Former unified 140-lb champion Amir Khan held court this afternoon during the WBA’s 99th convention on Zoom!
The former champ answered questions from both the panel and fans who tuned in.
Khan reflected on two of his losses being the toughest to come back from. The first one was against Danny Garcia. Khan admitted going into that fight to cocky and thinking that Garcia couldn’t do anything to him.
“The fight against Lamont Peterson was also hard to take. When the judges said he had won the fight, there’s no way he won the fight. I put him down two times. One thing I respected was that the WBA, upon learning that he took testosterone, they reinstated me as champion. It made taking the loss a little less difficult.”
On his gold medal Olympic fight with Mario Kindelan:
“It wasn’t until recently that I found out that Kindelan had beaten not only me as an amateur but Miguel Cotto and several other guys that went on to become professional champions. With Cubans not able to turn pro in their own country, they stay amateur for so long it’s like being professional. Who knows what his career would have been like had he been allowed to turn pro?”
On fighting during the pandemic:
“For me, it would be really difficult to fight behind closed doors. I wanted to fight originally two times this year, but if I can fight once this year I’ll be happy with that. Let’s just hope everyone stays safe from the Coronavirus and when this clears up we’ll see what happens.”
During the pandemic, Khan has been doing charity work both with Pakistan and the United Kingdom. “It’s about giving back to your community. I want other boxers to see this. We make a lot of money and we need to show that we can give back to the community.”
On training during the pandemic:
“It’s been really difficult to train during the pandemic. The gyms are closed. But I’ve been sneaking off to my own gym and doing the best I can. But outside of that, I’m normally flying around going here and there. But now I’m spending time with my kids and family and it’s been great in that respect. And I’m playing an exercising with the kids in the garden doing sit-ups and press-ups. So for me, it’s been okay.”
On whether or not he has any regrets no in his career:
“I don’t have any regrets, no. Anything I’ve ever done to my career, I’ve taken the biggest risks. I’ve won fights and I’ve lost fights. I’ve won world titles and I’ve lost world titles. To me it’s all been great and I wouldn’t change anything. I thank God for putting me in this position and without God I wouldn’t be here. I’ve got prayers from people from all around the world. It’s boxing they got me here and that’s why I don’t regret anything.”
On the potential megaphone between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury:
“You got Anthony Joshua who’s an amazing puncher. He’s got a great style and he can hurt anyone. Then you’ve got Fury. Fury is a beast. See Fury has shown that he can take a great punch from Wilder. He’s shown that he can beat any unorthodox style and he’s shown that he can adapt to any style. It’s a 50/50 fight but I lean towards Fury in this fight. Because styles make fights I think Fury wins this- points decision.”
During the forum, Khan was joined by former rival Marcos Maidana. Both were very cordial towards each other and shared their memories of the epic fight that they had.
Khan: “The toughest part about fighting Maidana was his punching power. He hurt me with every blow he landed.
Maidana: For me, it was his speed and his ability to recover from my punches!
Khan closed with these thoughts:
“The WBA has always been family to me. Anything I can do to help them, I will. Thank you for having me and I’d love to join you next year in Russia at the 100th convention!”
What about the fight (sparring) when Manny knocked him out cold?
Khan had his moments as a boxer during his prime. I admired his speedy jab and lateral movement. Some folks are born with gifts in boxing; jab, speed, movement, and a chin. Unfortunately, Khan was not born with the gift of a good chin. When he was KO’d, it was a profound KO!!!!!!
Hes had good career,made big $$$$ should retire and look after his investments.
Despite his shortcomings Khan has been good for boxing. He fought top-quality opposition throughout his career and rebounded from some serious setbacks. Maybe a good fight or two in his future. I think Virgil Ortiz might fancy Khan as he steps up the competition and even a fight with Broner could be interesting (between two aging warriors). The funny thing is I always felt Khan had a good shot against Mayweather from a style perspective.
Same here…..I feel his style would have gave Mayweather problems. I remember Showtime wanted the fight but Mayweather chose Andre Berto instead…maybe he saw something in Amir Khan’s style that he didn’t feel confident in.
Are u kidding me ? Khan can’t beat the guy living on the street corner
Sean, I’m not a big Khan, but to say he can’t beat a top 10 fighter is plain stupid.
Khan beat Malignanni, Alexander, Collazo and Maidana who were all top 10 fighters, especially Maidana who lost a controversial decision to Mayweather. So Khan was a decent skillful fighter, but with no chin.
I’m actually not a Khan fan (and I probably don’t like him as a person) but credit is due to him as a fighter. Let’s check the facts. He has beaten the following fighters during his career: Barrera, Malignacci, Maidana, Judah, Collazo, Alexander and Algieri. Other than Breidis, only top quality fighters have beaten him: Peterson (very debatable decision), Garcia, Alvarez and Crawford.
Khan in recent years , has come across as someone who wants to keep his name relevant by fighting sub level opposition and talking in the hope that he gets offered the massive fights.
Interesting no question about the dive against Crawford
Yeah, it was a masterful dive. Even Greg Louganis could have been jealous about that.
Cmon man this guy can‘to beat anyone on the top 10 , I don’t even think he can beat a halfway decent amateur, he has no chin and his power has diminished over the years, why is he in the spotlight? I don’t get it
Khan can say whatever he wants about his losses, but the one against Breidis Prescott is the one that really hurt the most his boxing career. From then on, he had to rebuild his boxing career and find new strategies to avoid shots to his weak chin.
I actually think that helped his career. He was weak at the weight as he showed vs Gomez and the very light punching Willie Limmond and it was not a long beating.
What was surprising on hindsight was the shots he somehow took vs MM. A disappointing thing is that Khan never tried to avenge his defeats. To me that shows a mental weakness. Avenging the Danny Garcia defeat – even now – would legitimately put him back in the mix , but he seems to just want to talk his way into big fights.
I want to know who’s proofreading these articles.