“People always want to see that, the young lion going to take the old lion out.”
― Amir Khan
“Even though you think boxing is a contact sport, it teaches you not to fight on the street, to behave. It gives you discipline and self-control.”
― Amir Khan
“We grew up in a nice house in a very middle-class area in Bolton and had a very happy childhood. My mum, Falak, who was also brought over from Pakistan by her parents as a kid, devoted herself to bringing up me and my younger brother and sister, Haroon and Tabinda, and my elder sister Mariyah.”
― Amir Khan
“Organic food is the best for you, and I’m eating the best, a lot of fresh vegetables. I also keep myself hydrated. It’s all made a big difference to my performance in the gym.”
― Amir Khan
“I look out there, and I see that Floyd Mayweather stands head and shoulders above everyone else. He’s another fighter I would like to base myself on because he’s got incredible fast hands and feet. He’s flashy but, man, is he good.”
― Amir Khan
“You never know what will happen in the future – I would never say ‘no’ to getting into MMA.”
― Amir Khan
“I looked up to cricket players such as Imran Khan.”
― Amir Khan
“My grandfather on my dad’s side was the first in our family to settle in the U.K. He came from Pakistan on his own in the ’60s and worked in a cotton mill in Bolton, earning enough to bring over the rest of his family. My dad, Shah, was only about eight when he came to this country. Like most immigrants, he has a fierce work ethic.”
― Amir Khan
“Some watches I bought, I think now, ‘Why the hell did I pay that much for a watch?’”
― Amir Khan
“I want to retire from boxing by the time I am 25 or 26 and be a legend by that age.”
― Amir Khan
“Of course I will turn professional at some stage. Then I want to be a world champion and finish up a legend and be out of the sport by the time I am 27.”
― Amir Khan
“Boxing’s a business, and I’ve got a great team around me who have been looking after me in that sense.”
― Amir Khan
“If you start throwing eight or nine shots, you’re going to get caught – bang – and the fight could be over.”
― Amir Khan
“I try to fix things between the Asian community and the English community. There are always going to be racial things there, not getting on with each other and stuff. I have tried to break that barrier.”
― Amir Khan
“I did have a chance to box for Pakistan, but I’ve lived here all my life, gone to school; all my coaches and everyone’s here, and I feel English.”
― Amir Khan
“I want a super-fight with a massive name, and I’d love it in a stadium.”
― Amir Khan
“I know for a fact if I were a white English fighter, maybe I would have been a superstar in Britain – and the world.”
― Amir Khan
“All the bad press I was getting puts you on a downer, so really, you come to a stage where you start hating yourself, in a way, because you’re not in control.”
― Amir Khan
“Whose mother wants to see her son fight? It’s very hard for her – but boxing is in my blood.”
― Amir Khan
“You need to have a very strong relationship with your coaches. For me, Freddie Roach is like a father figure.”
― Amir Khan
“I used to have Lamborghinis, Ferraris parked up outside the house – just parked there with no one driving them! Now I’m much wiser, and I only have one car that I drive. What’s the point of having three cars just parked up when you don’t need them?”
― Amir Khan
“It’s dangerous to talk too much about future fights.”
― Amir Khan
“I’ve been working a lot on my lateral movement, and angles – it’s coming natural to me now – and on different techniques, keeping my hands right.”
― Amir Khan
“There are a lot of fighters with no family support, but your family are honest with you. Look at the types who were around Mike Tyson. They are not going to tell you when you are wrong; they’ll just call you the champ.”
― Amir Khan
“I’m an orthodox fighter, relaxed, fast, and powerful. And I’ve got good footwork.”
― Amir Khan
“I’m confident I can take the gold in Beijing.”
― Amir Khan
“Boxing changed my life twice.”
― Amir Khan
“I’ve been to so many dos and presentation dinners and TV shows. I’ve been among all the top stars – soap stars, people from music – it’s been brilliant. But I’ve kept my feet on the ground.”
― Amir Khan
“I always said as an amateur that I’d want to one day fight and beat Kindelan because he was the best out there.”
― Amir Khan
“People come into fights against me and say this and that, but when they realise how quick and how hard I hit, their game plan disappears.”
― Amir Khan
“The Prescott fight made me change from a boy to a man: it took me out of my comfort zone because when you lose a fight, you look at the mistakes and everything. That is what happened. I’ve changed from a boy to a man.”
― Amir Khan
“The good thing about being nervous is that you perform better.”
― Amir Khan
“I’m very experienced in four-round fights because of my amateur career, and I’ve got a high work rate.”
― Amir Khan
“Boxing’s not going to retire me; I’ll retire from boxing. That’s where most people make mistakes. They normally stay in the game a bit too long.”
― Amir Khan
“The thing is, I’m never scared. It’s just in the blood, really. My family come from a warrior clan background, the Rajput tribe from the Punjab, and that could be one of the reasons. Going into fights just seems normal to me.”
― Amir Khan
“That’s boxing – one punch can win a fight.”
― Amir Khan
“Boxing is an addiction.”
― Amir Khan
“I’m proud to be British.”
― Amir Khan
“I respect other religions and other cultures.”
― Amir Khan
“My main priorities were to fight for Britain. Not a lot of Asians get selected for this country at anything, and it’s a great achievement.”
― Amir Khan
“Religion was very influential because when it got really bad, and you don’t know who to turn to, but I turned to God and was praying and meditating, that really helped.”
― Amir Khan
“It’s got difficult for me to walk down the street without people stopping me to ask for an autograph or to talk to me about boxing.”
― Amir Khan
“If I get a bit big-headed, I get a good clip round the ear from my family and friends. I’m still the same person.”
― Amir Khan
“I don’t want to get punched all my life.”
― Amir Khan
“I think it is very important to keep the kids off the street and out of trouble.”
― Amir Khan
“Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales are the guys I want to base myself on. They fight with their whole heart and with such work-rate. They just don’t stop punching. I want to be like that – never boring.”
― Amir Khan
“I came back from the Olympic Games, and straightaway, I’m this role model. So that means I can’t mess around with my mates like I used to because, if I do, people are going to use it to knock me down.”
― Amir Khan
“King chiller. That was me.”
― Amir Khan
“There were no Asian lads boxing when I started.”
― Amir Khan
“One thing for sure is that I am not going to attempt to knock Barrera out. My boxing ability and my speed are the attributes that will get me the win.”
― Amir Khan
“I know people didn’t think I’d become a world champion – even people probably in my own camp, my own team, didn’t think I’d become a world champion this quickly.”
― Amir Khan
“I want to thank Kotelnik for letting me have a shot at the title. I’m so confident I’m going to beat him. He thinks that me moving up a weight, I won’t be as strong, but I’m very strong. I’m a hard-hitting fighter.”
― Amir Khan
“My ambition from day one in this sport has been to become a world superstar.”
― Amir Khan
“I want people talking about me as a great fighter – from being a prospect with the big pressure as soon as I turned professional, then going on to win the world title.”
― Amir Khan
“I’ve won the world title – what I’ve dreamt of since the age of eight.”
― Amir Khan
“What happened to me against Prescott didn’t make Prescott a better fighter than me.”
― Amir Khan
“As an amateur, we used to fight people from the same gym. You’d spar with each other and then fight each other in championships.”
― Amir Khan
“When you drop weight, the closer you come to the fight, the more your muscles tighten up.”
― Amir Khan
“In America, they treat me like God.”
― Amir Khan
“With me being a sportsman and being an icon who people know, if I can even send a little message across which will maybe help a lot of people, I’m going to do that.”
― Amir Khan
“I can only say that sometimes skin colour does make a difference.”
― Amir Khan
“Straight after the Prescott fight, people were saying, ‘He’s finished. He’s not going to come back.’ There were only racial remarks made. But, you know what, it made me stronger. It made me come back even stronger. It made me a better fighter.”
― Amir Khan
“I used to eat what I want, on a junk diet, and used to think I could make my weight easy and kill myself over the last four or five days.”
― Amir Khan
“I have been very lucky with what I have achieved.”
― Amir Khan
“It’s just such an addictive sport. Only now I can understand why ex-fighters come back. That addiction helps me set new goals and targets.”
― Amir Khan
“The last week before a fight always goes really slow.”
― Amir Khan
“I think I’m one of the hardest-training fighters in the world.”
― Amir Khan
“I’m just a fighter.”
― Amir Khan
“I love the British public and the British fans; they are true boxing fans. If you get them on your side, you can go right to the end and achieve anything in life.”
― Amir Khan
“The one thing about me is that I keep my personal life away from my sporting life. And, when I am training for a fight, that is my focus.”
― Amir Khan
“My sport will always be important to me.”
― Amir Khan
“I was very hyperactive when I was a kid, just misbehaving at school like most kids, and I would probably be 10 times worse at home.”
― Amir Khan
“If I hadn’t gone towards boxing, I might have been one of those kids getting into trouble. A lot of my friends did. They were clever kids at school, but they just went down the wrong path.”
― Amir Khan
“People forget that boxing is the art of self-defence – ideally, hit and not be hit – and maybe we should all think about that a bit more.”
― Amir Khan
“We like to entertain, but it is not our duty to do so. I have had a lot of exciting fights and been hit way too much, so that is something to think about.”
― Amir Khan
“If I get the fight against Mayweather, I have no doubt I can go and take it.”
― Amir Khan
“Mayweather does tease people all the time. He likes to get under your skin. That’s what he’s like.”
― Amir Khan
“You always want to fight the best.”
― Amir Khan
“Mayweather waits for you to make a mistake. He plays a similar game to me.”
― Amir Khan
“I’ve come back from losses and won world titles.”
― Amir Khan
“I’ve been boxing since I was eight, and that’s a long time to take punches day after day.”
― Amir Khan
“I understand why my mum and my wife can’t bear to watch me fight. There’s a lot of blood, a lot of pain.”
― Amir Khan
“I have the skills to box and not get into a war. I’ve been getting punishment I shouldn’t be taking because, sometimes, I’m too brave for my own good. When I’ve got good footwork and movement, I should use them.”
― Amir Khan
“The boxing world can be a very lonely one, and I’m so grateful every day to have Dad and my whole family watching my back. It would be unthinkable if I didn’t have their support.”
― Amir Khan
“As a kid, I was hyperactive and the naughty one in school. I wouldn’t listen to anyone and thought I knew best. At home, I was always breaking things and annoying everyone.”
― Amir Khan
“Kell Brook was saying he wants to forget about Amir Khan; he wants to fight Pacquiao and Mayweather. These guys don’t know who Kell Brook is.”
― Amir Khan
“We’re prizefighters. That’s what we become. Boxing has one of the biggest purses in sport. And in the sporting field, we probably make the most money.”
― Amir Khan
“You’re always just one punch away from getting hurt. But look, if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. I think I’m going to walk out of this sport of boxing when I think it’s the right time.”
― Amir Khan
“I’ve always known that to have anything, you’ve got to work hard at it.”
― Amir Khan
“Floyd Mayweather has fought the biggest names throughout his career and has earned the right to face whoever he chooses.”
― Amir Khan
“I love takeaways. I have at least one or two every day. Burgers, chips, curries, doner kebabs, all sorts.”
― Amir Khan
“If I spend silly, it’s going to look bad, in a way, because I do all this charity work as well.”
― Amir Khan
“I have a stake in a company called Super Fight League, which is an MMA company in India, and we have a lot of shows in Dubai, too.”
― Amir Khan
“I’ve always been a UFC fan, and I like McGregor and the way he promotes it.”
― Amir Khan
“If I look at my career financially, I think it’s one of the best careers any fighter’s had.”
― Amir Khan
“I’m always strong. I’m tough.”
― Amir Khan
“I eat a lot of takeaways.”
― Amir Khan
“Work like your life depends on it, but remember it doesn’t.”
― Amir Khan
“You have to be confident when you’ve got someone in front of you who wants to beat you and take the title from you. But I think people mistake my confidence for arrogance or cockiness.”
― Amir Khan
“I grew up in a loving household.”
― Amir Khan
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