For much of the past decade Amir Khan was the golden boy of British boxing.
Forget Anthony Joshua, Olympic silver medal winner Amir Khan was the toast of the UK. He was one of the country’s youngest ever world champions at 22 and fought in front of packed arenas in New York, Las Vegas, Manchester and California against the sport’s best for years.
But then it all went downhill. His fixation on landing a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr, then Manny Pacquiao, turned his head around. Two shock upsets and a dodgy chin, and being ripped off unfairly by Lamont Peterson, left a bitter taste in his mouth. Then in 2016 his eyes were bigger than his brain when he took on Saul Alvarez. Jumping up two divisions to face the hard-hitting, and now revealed to be doping Mexican ‘Canelo’, was near suicide and so it proved with a nasty sixth-round knockout.
With that defeat, his fourth, his career and indeed his life went off the rails. In two years out of the ring he messily spit up with his wife, then reconciled. He was more known for being in the gossip pages than the sports pages. He even went on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!. Khan was in the headlines constantly, but never for the right reasons. Boxing was an afterthought.
Now at 31 he is back. But questions, and doubts remain. Is he past it? Are his best days behind him? Can he become a world champion again? Is he mentally still up to the rigours of the ring once more? Does he still have the speed and relflexes of his youth? Those questions will be answered on Saturday when he returns against Phil Lo Greco.
“I’ve done a lot in the game, I’ve made a lot of money, I’ve made a big name for myself, I’ve fought in America,’ Khan told The Metro. “I just want to achieve a little bit more in the game. If I win another world title I can say: ‘Thank you very much, I’ve had a great time, a great career.”
The Canadian should not put up much resistance. Lo Greco is a solid fighter, but in essence this is just a tune-up, a warm-up bout. Worringly, Lo Greco seems to have gotten under Khan’s skin in the lead up to the fight. Barbs on social media have found their mark. Then at a press conference in January he threw water after Lo Greco after his opponent taunted him about his personal life. Lo Greco will be hoping Khan loses his cool and composure in Liverpool tonight. That is arguably his only chance of victory, considering the gulf in class and experience.
⚖️ Join us for the #KhanLoGreco and undercard weigh-in tomorrow, 2pm at the Hilton Hotel in Liverpool 👊
Khan has admitted a loss would be the end of his career. “I have to win and win well,” he said. “I intend to put on a clinic and dismantle Lo Greco, he is not on my level. If I have to go 12 rounds, so be it, but defeat is not an option. My ambition was to come back and win another world title, and if I can’t win against Lo Greco, it’s all over for me.”
So the ball is firmly in Khan’s corner. The chance to reclaim past glories and relaunch his career is front of him. Bouts against Kell Brook, or Keith Thurman or Errol Spence Jr could materialize. Tomorrow is the first step on a new path.
