Everything’s cool with me and Ant
BOXING AMIR: JOSHUA’S STILL MY BIG PAL Silva is on hold
AMIR KHAN says he has put his “misunderstanding” with Anthony Joshua behind him after a phone call from the heavyweight star.
The Bolton boxer admits the turmoil in his personal life has been made worse by his absence from the ring in the past 16 months.
Khan, 30, tweeted that his wife Faryal Makhdoom had cheated on him with IBF and WBA heavyweight champion Joshua after the breakdown of their marriage last month.
But the former light-welterweight world champion had to apologise to his fellow Brit after the claim turned out to be false.
It is the latest in a long list of personal blows for the fighter, who was knocked out by Saul Alvarez in May 2016 and has had three operations on his right hand since.
Respect
“He rang me, he spoke to me,” said Khan. “Everything is cool. I said, ‘Look, everything was a misunderstanding’ and we put a bag over it.
“He goes, ‘I want to be able to come over and shake your hand, champ’. We both want to keep that respect and love.”
Khan’s not-so-private life is still in a mess after the break up of his four-year marriage.
The 2004 Olympic silver medallist revealed last March that his relationship with his family and close friends had deteriorated and that he barely spoke to most of them.
But he has now revealed he has repaired those relationships with his dad, Shah, who was with him on his trip to Las Vegas last weekend to watch Floyd Mayweather beat Conor McGregor.
“From these fallouts, you learn to know yourself as well, and see everything around you,” said Khan.
“When all this happens, you get to see the real people around you, who’s really looking out for you and who’s not looking out for you.
“I’ve got to see a lot of those things that now make a lot of sense to me.
“There’s a lot of people saying, ‘We ® can help you, we can do this for you or that for you’.
“Your family’s always going to be there looking out for your best interests, not the opposite.
‘‘There was a lot of people out there who wanted to help me but wanted to look out for themselves a lot more.
“Not fighting does make it a little bit harder because I want to do what I do best and people are forgetting that.
“It gets frustrating because people are focusing on other things and making them bigger than they are.”
Khan’s career is still on hold after he needed another operation following a sparring injury.
He is plotting a December return to the ring and still believes he can win another world title before he retires.
“I need another world title,’’ he said. ‘‘I know it’s winnable to put a shine on the end of my career.”
There is also the possibility of an all-British clash with bitter rival Kell Brook – on one condition.
Khan added: “The only way I would take that Brook fight is if he left (promoter) Eddie Hearn.
“I just don’t like Eddie Hearn, I think he’s very disrespectful.” ® LEICESTER are waiting for international clearance for £22m deadline-day buy Adrien Silva.
Both the Foxes and Sporting Lisbon issued statements yesterday confirming a deal has been struck for the midfielder.
But Leicester still need FIFA to rubber-stamp a transfer that was rushed through in the final minutes of the transfer window.
The Midlands club were granted a two-hour extension to get the deal done and are confident there will be no final hitches.
The move for Portugal star Silva, 28, hinged on Danny Drinkwater completing a £35m switch to Chelsea which was finally confirmed yesterday.
Foxes manager Craig Shakespeare is confident Riyad Mahrez’s form will be unaffected despite the winger handing in a transfer request.
Mahrez was given permission to leave the Algeria camp ahead of the trip to Zambia in case Leicester received an offer they couldn’t refuse, but no bid came in.