IT STILL GIVES ME THAT BUZZ
Khan says he is hooked on adrenaline rush of a big fight
HE has won world titles, headlined at some of boxing’s most iconic venues and earned more money than he ever imagined.
But Amir Khan says he can’t stop boxing because he loves the adrenaline rush.
“It’s the love I have for the sport, that’s why I’m still doing it,” said Khan.
“I’m a natural-born fighter. I love the adrenaline rush before a fight and, afterwards, I just want to do it again because of how good the buzz is.”
Khan, 32, will experience that buzz when he walks out to face Terence Crawford at Madison Square Garden tomorrow.
And he says he will continue fighting as long as he gets that feeling.
“I want to quit just before I hate the sport,” he said. “That could be after this fight or it could be in years. I love everything around boxing, it takes me away from so many distractions.
“Other people would die to be in my position. It has given me a new family, fame and love.
“I was always a tough kid, born that way. My family were cool. We were working-class, with my dad a mechanic and my mum a housewife.
“It was simple, my brothers and sisters all went to school, but maybe I was just the mad one. I was hyperactive, full of energy and always misbehaving.
“I was always fearless and never scared of anything. I was born too brave. I have looked back at my family, cousins and uncles and no one is like me, no one is as tough.
“I come from a warrior caste in Pakistan – I am a Rajput Janjua – and, when I tell people that in Pakistan, understand me.”
Khan’s eldest daughter Lamaisah already knows he is a boxer and told her fellow passengers on the flight over to New York this week, with great relish, that her daddy is going to “punch a man in the face”.
Khan had not seen the four-year-old for three months, while he was in camp in San Francisco, they and hopes the other passengers don’t think he’s some kind of psycho. “I saw her for the first time after three months on Tuesday and I couldn’t believe she had grown so tall,” he added.
“She is speaking in full sentences. She was telling everyone that her daddy is a boxer and he is going to win – he’s going to punch a man in the face.
“I told her not to be saying that because people will think I’m some kind of nutter.”