Khan to retire in five years
WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan has surprised the boxing world and announced that he plans to retire within the next five years.
Khan says he would like to call it a day when he reaches 28 so he can walk out of boxing the same way he walked in and avoid Dementia Pugilistica.
Ever since winning the silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, Khan has had a well thought out and well managed career and it would be no surprise to see him capitalise while the iron’s hot, make his money and get out.
It’s a bit reminiscent of "Sugar" Ray Leonard who similarly came back an Olympic hero, had a well managed career, lost surprisingly against a South American, in his case to Roberto Duran in Khan’s case Breidis Prescott. Leonard took early retirement at 26, but of course came back about fifty times. It will be interesting to see whether Khan will stick to his promise or, like Leonard, continue on after hanging up his gloves.
One good aspect is that if Khan is serious about this he will have to get all his big and exciting fights out in one go.
He is already set to fight Marcos Maidana, which is a major step-up in standard. Khan has attracted criticism for a large chunk of his career about the durability of his chin following his loss to Prescott and being dropped by Michael Gomez and Willie Limond. There’s no denying that Maidana is a big hitter, 27 KO’s from 29 wins tells its own story.
Khan too has in recent weeks been linked to Floyd Mayweather Jr if the Manny Pacquiao super-fight continues to fail to materialise. As natural heir to the Pacman throne Khan would be an ideal choice to replace the Filipino with their similar fast hands, close friendship and links to Freddie Roach’s Wildcard gym.
In theory, the map for the future is quite clear for the Bolton born pugilist, beat Maidana, take on either or both of Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley Jr then move up to welterweight with the aim of taking on Mayweather and possibly even a passing of the torch fight against Pacquiao. However, that is obviously far easier said than done and he could quite easily lose anyone of those matches. If he were to win though he would fully deserve retirement.
Still five years is a long time away and Khan still has much to prove. If he achieves all his ambitions by then it will be a fully deserved retirement. He is a supremely gifted boxer but has yet to step in the ring with anyone of world title quality and that will be the real test.
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