Amir Khan contemplates retirement
Amir Khan has announced that he will retire in five years.
"I'm going to walk out of this sport the way I walked in, and that's what I want to tell other people who box,” Khan said on BBC Radio.
“By the time I'm 28, that's the time for me to hang my gloves up and stay with my family. You don’t want to walk out of the sport brain dead.”
The comments mirror those of WBA heavyweight champion David Haye, who likewise confirmed recently he will retire in the coming year.
Khan, a Bolton native, is the current WBA junior welterweight champion, a title he claimed by defeating Andreas Kotelnik in July 2009.
He’s set to take on interim challenger Marcos Maidana on December 11 in a Las Vegas bout that analysts agree will be one of the most anticipated of the year.
Apart from professional accolades, Khan won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He was the only British representative at the games, and turned pro promptly after.
Although he is a formidable contender, Khan has had to deal with barrages of scepticism since suffering a first round knockout to Colombian Breidis Prescott back in September 2008. Khan was a favourite going into the fight, but was caught very quickly with
a right from which he never recovered. Many have questioned his chin since, which is the most underrated quality of a champion.
Khan is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. CEO Richard Schaefer has extraordinarily high expectations for him, recently stating that in a few fights he would be interested in penning a fight between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Unwilling to get into the
ring with seven-division titlist Manny Pacquiao, it is unclear if Mayweather would be willing to defend his reputation against Khan.
In preparation for his Maidana fight, and to aid Manny Pacquiao in his upcoming bout with Antonio Margarito, Khan arrived in the Philippines recently to train with Freddie Roach and others.
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