Amir “King” Khan – From King of the Ring to…King of the Jungle?

By Faisal “Fayz” Masood

In August of 2004 a 17yr old Amir Khan left Athens with a Silver Medal from the Olympic games. It took the 33yr old standout Cuban Mario Kindelan to prevent Khan from being the youngest Olympic champion since Floyd Patterson in 1952.

The boxing world was at Khan’s feet. Here was a 17yr old, just a kid, a teenager, beating grown men inside the ring. Sitting ringside watching Khan compete in the Olympics was none other than heavyweight great Evander Holyfield “It was a great performance – he’s got huge potential,” said Holyfield. “How do you expect a 17-year-old to fight that great. He was up against the best.”

Just five years later, at the tender age of 22, Amir Khan became the Light Welterweight Champion when he defeated Andreas Kotelnik. Despite a setback against Breidis Prescott, Khan showed he could bounce back from adversity and was fulfilling not just the words of Evander Holyfield, but so many others who had tipped Khan for the top. Khan’s stock continued to rise the following year when he ended 2010 by beating the hard hitting Argentinian warrior Marcos Maidana, a fight which would go onto be voted Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

This Sunday November 19th, Amir Khan will step in to the jungle in Australia, not to compete for any title, no he won’t be fighting the Australian Hornet Jeff Horn who beat Khan’s former stable mate Manny Pacquiao, don’t expect to see Rocky trying to gain revenge for his fallen friend Apollo Creed here. Instead, we are going to see Amir Khan competing on a celebrity reality based show competing for survival in the Australian jungle….

How did Khan, once the brightest young talent in the sport, end up on a celebrity show which is one of many I liken to an Elephants graveyard? It’s where celebrity careers come to die, where many ‘celebrities’ throw the final roll of the dice in the hopes that somehow, appearing on a show being dared to handle spiders and as Khan’s nemesis, former IBF Champion Kell Brook put it ‘eat Kangaroo testicles’. In fact, many of the celebrities who do appear on this show have already waved goodbye to their careers, all the more reason to query Khan’s decision to participate on the show. Included amongst the names of celebrities who have appeared on the show are a number of boxers. Two of them were names I admired as a child growing up, the ruthless Nigel Benn, a two weight World Champion and Benn’s arch rival, another two weight World Champion Chris Eubank, SR. Both of these great boxers were well into retirement as was heavyweight Joe Bugner, another contestant in years past. There is also the small matter of David Haye. Haye appeared on the show in 2012 whilst recovering from shoulder issues.

Whereas the retired boxers can be forgiven for appearing on ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’, I see no reason why Amir Khan, at just 30yrs old has decided to enter the jungle.

Since the start of 2015, Khan has entered the ring just twice, a sub par points win over Chris Algieri and then again in May 2016 against Canelo Alvarez, when much to everyone’s surprise (and dismay) he moved up in weight to tackle the red headed Mexican. Unfortunately, the last thing Khan saw was the color red – the red of Canelo’s gloves.

Since the Canelo loss, Khan has been out of the game recovering from a hand operation but only recently Khan announced his plans to box three times in 2018. The timing of his jungle appearance seems slightly off if he is to fulfill his desire for three bouts.

Making Khan’s decision even more absurd is the tumultuous year his relationship has undergone with his wife, Faryal Makhdoom. From very public spats on social media, announcing their divorce, the news of a pregnancy and then a reconciliation with his pregnant wife, why would Khan then decide to travel to Australia? Surely a better move would be to either spend more time with his family or start properly preparing for those fights he has promised the boxing fans?

Amir Khan is a boxer with an abundance of talent. We’ve all heard of the jokes around his chin but that only adds to his appeal. Fight fans know that when Khan fights, more often than not you are going to see an entertaining fight. Khan’s hand speed is second to none in a sport where speed kills. Where Khan seems to lack in fights is his judgement, too often Khan will get involved in a brawl which is not his style and not the way he should ever be fighting when he has so much hand speed. And it appears it is this lack of judgement which carries over into his life outside of the ring too.

Adding to Khan’s lack of judgement is his compulsiveness which has seen him getting himself into trouble on social media. With Khan’s past the TV bosses will certainly be hoping his lack of judgement and compulsiveness will result in Khan faltering in the jungle and makes headline news. The eyes of the UK will be looking at Khan’s every move and his questionable past will be put to the test even more than his phobia of eight legged creepy crawlies.

Khan’s career is at a crossroads and has been for sometime now. His inactivity the past couple of years means he has become irrelevant in his weight class, the likes of Errol Spence, JR., Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia and even his fellow Brit Kell Brook all have left Khan languishing behind in the division. And let’s not even get into how the division will change once Terence Crawford decides to enter the competition…

For a man who had so much talent and brought so much entertainment to the sport, the demise of Khan has been one of the biggest losses in boxing, Khan’s boxing career and personal life took a nose dive in 2017. Maybe Khan is ending it on a good note by restoring his marriage and starting fresh in the jungle, away from the luxuries of life he is so used to. Perhaps getting away from his phone, social media and changing the atmosphere and his environment will give him a fresh perspective on his life and career and he will come out finally sticking to his word and give us fight fans what we want to see in 2018, three bouts including a fight with Kell Brook. Or maybe Khan will trot off into the sunset, looking for the elephants graveyard. I for one, will be hoping it is the former and we get to see Khan adding to the quality of a loaded welterweight division.

Fayz has also published two books available for download on Amazon and also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.

Check out his books on Amazon

Strength and Conditioning for Boxing – Workout Hits to get you Fighting Fit

The Boxing Cheat Sheet – Your Ultimate Guide to Ring Survival

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