Fired up Khan vows ‘Italian Sensation’ will not spoil party

AT THE age of 31, money alone is not the driver for Amir Khan’s return to the ring this Saturday. Instead, he says, it is all about his desire for more nights of glory and to win – another world championship.

Before then a prosaic comeback must be negotiated against Canada’s Phil Lo Greco in Liverpool, but even the rain that bucketed down on the open-air ring set-up for the Briton’s public workout could not dampen his mood yesterday as he finetuned his preparations for his first fight in two years.

The former light-welterweight world champion looked fast, confident and brought a distinct presence to proceedings – once they had been transferred from the city streets to a hotel ballroom.

“It was easy coming back,” said Khan, who has signed a three-fight deal under promoter Eddie Hearn following his horrible mismatch with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in Las Vegas in 2016, which ended in a brutal knockout.

“I could have called it a day and said I want to walk away. The truth is that I don’t need to box, I don’t need the money.

“I’m not coming back because I need to, I’m coming back because I’ve got the energy to be a world champion again.

“I’ve done a lot in the game, I’ve made a lot of money, I’ve made a big name for myself, I’ve fought in America. I just want to achieve a little bit more in the game. If I win another world title I can say, ‘thank you very much, I’ve had a great time, a great career’.

“I’m 31, look at Manny Pacquiao, who is 39 and started having his big fights at 31. Look at Floyd Mayweather, he is 41 years old and still fighting. I’m still a baby.”

Khan was in the public eye earlier this year when he appeared on the reality TV series I’m A Celebrity Get

Me Out Of Here! Forced to eat insects and overcome his fear of snakes, he was a popular contestant and described the experience as formative. “Going in that jungle was the best thing ever because it helped me a lot. It felt so comfortable. I feel smarter,” he added.

Lo Greco, known as “the Italian Sensation”, looks to have been brought over as the fall guy. Yet Khan can ill-afford any mistakes against the 33-year-old, who maintained that he was “coming to spoil the party” and would “knock Khan out”. We shall see.

Lo Greco has had an 11-week camp, and has Fernando Vargas, the youngest-ever light-middleweight world champion, in his corner. He was known as “El Feroz” – “The Ferocious” – and Lo Greco will need that kind of steeliness against Khan, who looks in good shape and is saying all the right things.

Khan’s preparations have been interrupted because Virgil Hunter, his trainer, was taken ill six weeks ago. It has meant a sixth career trainer for the Briton, this time the experienced Joe Goossen, who has worked with Khan for five weeks, and has a few world champions under his belt.

Goossen said he had worked with Khan “on [keeping] his hands high in defence” and on “choosing aggression”. —