Amir Khan believes sports help children staying off the streets – Boxing News
Former unified IBF and WBO super lightweight champion Amir Khan believes sports help children staying off the streets. In his recent interview, Khan rated himself as a ‘hyperactive kid when he was eight’. According to him, boxing trainer Tommy Battel was
the one who made his way into boxing.
Khan revealed, “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. Dad took me to a gym round the corner from where we lived, where I met the trainer [Battel]. It was all about
diverting my energy into something positive. I was only eight and I never looked back. It felt like home when I walked into the gym.”
A person who has already been through the phase and is now in complete control of himself knows what it is like, as Khan puts it. Khan currently owns a gym in Bolton, next to an Aldi. He is a British-Pakistani boxer who won Olympics silver in Athens when
he was just 17 back in 2004. He then went onto become one of the most notable boxers of today from Britain.
Shedding light further on the situation, Khan said, “It's all about keeping the kids off the streets and giving them a bit of discipline. If I hadn't gone towards boxing I might have been one of those kids getting into trouble. A lot of my friends did.”
Khan will be stepping into the ring on May 19 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas to face the current unified IBF and WBO super lightweight champion Lamont Peterson. This will be Khan’s much awaited rematch against Peterson to avenge his controversial
defeat that came at the hands of Peterson in December last year. Khan lost his titles to Peterson after the referee deducted 2 points from his score at the end of the match. The decision irked Khan and he immediately filed an appeal to the IBF. Khan finally
got his rematch and is now in the preparation phase for the fight to get his titles back.
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