‘RIPPED OFF’ KHAN ANXIOUS TO KICK-START NEW ERA
Former world champion breaks away from family and friends to go it alone after Canelo loss, writes Declan Taylor
When Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez hit Amir Khan with that chilling overhand right in May of last year, he sent the Bolton man crashing to the canvas like a helicopter falling from the sky. What few people realised at the time, however, was that the blow would also send Khan’s relationship with his team into total free fall.
The morning after that balmy night in Las Vegas, all seemed as well as could be when he held court with the media in his swanky hotel suite just down the Strip from the T-Mobile Arena. He had been soundly beaten, but not battered — and he’d made a packet.
Present that day were his closest friend Saj Mohamed, his uncle Taz and, of course, his father Shah. The three of them, in addition to a long list of others, were always by his side during training camps and fight weeks, always ready to cheerily discuss how their Amir was getting on.
But following a bitter feud, and some startling financial revelations, Khan has decided to go it alone. A ‘tune-up’ fight next month is in the works and talks regarding a mega-fight with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao remain ongoing, but his old camp will have nothing to do with them.
Now 30, the former unified lightwelterweight champion of the world says one era is over, but a new one is already underway.
“After the Canelo fight my old team thought ‘he’s had his big fight, he’s done now’,” Khan says from a plastic chair in the reception area of the San Francisco Bay Arena gym in which he trains. “I lost in May but by October, November it had all changed.
“So this is the chance for me now to prove everyone wrong. I’m not done. I’ve just turned 30, I’ve still got some good years left in me. It could be my time to shine.
“My old team will think I made the worst choice by letting them go and say ‘watch his career go down the drain’. I’m not going to let that happen. I’m looking forward to proving them wrong.”
Predictably, money appears to be at the heart of the split. Khan, who remains arguably the biggest crossover name in British boxing, is thought to have racked up close to £40m during his career as a professional — but he dreads to think how much has been spent.
“When you start making big money the people around me should have been looking out for my interests, but it didn’t seem like that,” he adds. “They were just saying ‘the money is coming in just keep spending it’. When you’re making millions, sometimes people forget about the little costs but they add up, man.
“I lost sight of it because obviously I left it to people that I trusted. I thought they could do everything and I could sit back and focus on my boxing. But it wasn’t like that. It’s funny now thinking about it — I was young then and I relied on my team, whatever they said went.
“I had property advisers who used to rip me off, I had accountants who ripped me off. I changed everything. With what I’ve gone through, if I told you everything you would start crying.
“When money starts coming in a lot of people change. When it stops you see their true colours. And when I took a loss and everyone thought I was done, I saw everyone’s true colours. That is why I had to make these big changes.
“I think it is the end of an era... I think it is the end of an old era where we all had good times. They all did well — and did better than a lot of people. We all made a lot of money in the last era but I think it’s about setting my legacy now.”
But, after longer than two decades concentrating solely on boxing, the changes have been close to overwhelming for Khan. “The way they left everything...” he begins, shaking his head and looking down at his feet.
“They could have done it a bit nicer, they could have showed me what went where... I remember being on the phone because I needed the cooker fixed but I didn’t know what to do. I had to make payments but I’d never, ever made a bank payment in my life. I usually bring the money in and everything gets done for me.
“I should have got on to things a few years ago when I was 21 or 22 and made sure everything was right. I didn’t want to ever think about that. I just assumed it would be going the right way.”
One payment, i n particular, summed it all up for the father-of-one. “I got a bill for a server for like eight grand,” he recalls. “I thought ‘eight grand? What’s that for?’
“I emailed the guy back asking what the bill was for. He said ‘oh that’s for the server in your office’. I thought to myself ‘Why would I need an office with a server?’ I’m a fighter.
“I’m the only person going in the ring but I’m paying server costs and God knows what else for an office that I don’t even need. My office is the gym.
“Apparently the server is for all old emails going back years — what do I need those for? I don’t even look at my emails now!”
Not strictly true, however, as he also revealed how a message from back home proved the extent of the division within his family.
“The tiles fell off my roof in my house in Bolton because of the wind the other day,” he explains. “I got an email from my sister saying ‘if you want to get them fixed here is a number for a guy to do it’. She could have text me, it could have been a bit nicer.
“My mum and dad will always be my mum and dad. I speak to my brother [fellow professional boxer Haroon] here and there if he replies to me.
“I’ve been the best son, I’ve been the best brother, I’ve been the best family member anyone could have. I’ve done everything for my family. I’ve done more for my family than anyone would do... But I’m happy. I’m relaxed. It has matured me a lot.”
Just as well, given the next two years will be pivotal to how he is remembered. For Khan, unlike paying the bills, the plan is a simple.
“Everything I have to do is the right move, everything I do is for the benefit of me,” he says. “One more big title win. Then I can call it in. Two more years. “It’s like a yoyo, I’m down but on my way back up. I want to end on top.”