Amir driven to box on so his children know he’s a warrior
BEFORE each training session at Virgil Hunter’s gym overlooking San Francisco Bay, Amir Khan makes the same call home.
He FaceTimes his eldest daughter, four-year-old Lamaisha, to see how she is and to chat about her day at school.
Lamaisha and her 10-month-old sister Alayna are Khan’s inspiration and he says without them he would have quit as he struggled with his hand injury after his sickening KO by Canelo Alvarez in May 2016.
But his desire for them to see him in the ring drove him on – and Khan wants them to remember him in huge contests, such as his April 20 showdown with Terence Crawford at Madison Square Garden.
Khan, back with Hunter for the first time since the trainer’s illness, said: “I would have retired two years ago, but what motivated me was having children because I want them to know what their daddy is.
“It’s given me freshness.
“With my hand problem, I wouldn’t have come back. I had the Canelo fight, made good money and that would a new have been it. But I thought of Lamaisha and I want her to remember something better than me getting knocked out by Canelo. I want her to remember a good time, not just hear about it.
“I want her to taste the thrill too. I want her to see me going to a big fight, seeing her at the hotel, giving her a little hug. I want her to remember all this when she grows up.”
Lamaisha is back home in Bolton being looked after by Khan’s family, while Alayna is with him and his wife Faryal in California. This fight is very much a family affair and he arrives each day for training, minus any hangers-on, carrying his own kit bag – just how Hunter likes it.
Those calls home are bittersweet for Khan and it kills him that he will have gone three months without seeing Lamaisha by the time she arrives in New York with Faryal’s parents before the fight.
“This is the first time I’ve been away from her for this long,” said the bearded Khan as he sat on the ring apron at Hunter’s Oakland gym. “That’s driving me on because everything I do, I do it for her and Alayna. It’s hard because they grow up so fast. “Before I left she was saying a few words. “Now she’s giving me whole sentences. She definitely understands who I am now because she came home from school and said, ‘I told my teacher my daddy is a world champion boxer’. I’m like a superhero to her.”
Some pundits reckon Khan will need superhero powers to beat undefeated welterweight king Crawford (left), the WBO champ who is No.2 in the pound-forpound rankings.
Khan, 32, feels that flatters the American because his CV is not that glittering for someone who has won world titles at three different weights.
“I know he’s in the poundfor-pound rankings, but I don’t think he’s fought anyone as skilful as me,” said the former unified lightwelterweight champ.
“I bring something to the table that he’s never faced. My resume is a lot better, definitely. I’ve fought and beaten better opponents.
“I just feel he’s put on that pedestal and has been given that pound-for-pound status without really having proven himself.
“I like that because when I beat him, we’ll see if they class me as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters.” ■ AMIR KHAN challenges undefeated Terence Crawford for the WBO world welterweight belt, live on BT Sport Box Office, Saturday April 20. For more information go to