Amir Khan: The British boxing prodigy
Amir Khan, born on 8th December 1986, is a British boxing prodigy. He won a silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004, at the age of seventeen. Since then there is no stopping for this British Pakistani and he just keeps
on raising the bar for himself. He is currently the WBA super lightweight boxing champion and will be defending his title against Marcos Maidana, on 11th December 2010.
Amir Khan lives in Bolton and is very fluent in three languages, English, Urdu and Punjabi. Amir Khan is from a family that loves sports. His brother is an amateur boxer and his cousin Sajid Mehmood, is a cricketer. Apart from boxing,
Amir Khan is a fan of cricket and football.
Amir decided to be a boxer at a very early age, when he started at eleven. He showed promises as a boxer and started to get noticed. His first break through came, when he won three junior ABA titles. Later on he went to win the European
School Championship, in 2004. The same year he attained Olympics glory. At the Olympics his first rivalry started when he lost to Mario Kindelan from Cuba. Amir Khan also lost to Mario Kindelan in the pre Olympics matches. This great boxer got his revenge,
when he defeated the Cuban in his last match, before retirement. Khan decided to turn pro in 2005 and his first bout was against David Bailey, through a technical knock out. The fight took place at Bolton Arena in his home town. Amir Khan decided to switch
to light welterweight and went on to face French opponent Rachid Drilzane, in 2006. A he won the match but his lack of experience in the competition, clearly showed. He decided to switch back to lightweight division after the match.
Amir Khan had his next match in Cardiff. He defeated Steffy Bull in style and won the match with a technical knock out. After defeating Steffy Bull ,Amir Khan had his eyes set on the Common Wealth light weight title. He went into
the title match on 14th July 2007, against Willie Limond. The match is considered to be one of the best light weight title matches of the decade. Both the boxers delivered good quality jabs. In the sixth round, Amir Khan fell on the canvas. He came back strong
in the seventh round. In the eighth round, Amir Khan broke Willie Limond’s jaw and nose, to win the title.
Khan had to defend his title very soon, against Scott Lawton, in October 2007. he followed a much planned approach. He produced text book boxing and his opponent Scott Lawton, lost as a technical knock out in the third round. Year
2007 was still not over and the best from Amir Khan was still to come. He went on to fight against Graham Earl, a much decorated boxer. It took only seventy-two seconds for Amir Khan to take down Graham Earl. Amir Khan earned the nick of “King Khan”, after
this fight and he considers it to be one of his best fights till date.
This great boxer continued his good form, in the years to follow but still the critics regard 2007 as his best year, so far. In 2008 his fight with Irish boxer Michael Gomez earned him a lot of criticism. On 18th July 2009, Amir Khan
became the WBA: World Light Welterweight Champion. He defeated his opponent, Andreas Kotelnik. Hype came in Amir Khan’s career when he faced Dmitry Salita. The media quoted the event as a “battle of faiths.” He won the bout in just seventy-two seconds, via
a technical knock out. Amir Khan is a great boxer and who knows, this man could be, the next Muhammad Ali.
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