Khan feels blessed after hanging up his gloves

Amir Khan has finally called time on a long and storied career that began with an Olympic medal, peaked with a unified world championship and ended, as so many journeys do, with one fight too many.

“King” Khan, the trailblazing boxer from the British Pakistani Muslim community, leaves the sport with a 40-fight career under his belt, with 34 victories and six defeats. But he will be best remembered for his lightning fast hands, desire for a war in the ring and, at times, his vulnerability at the highest level. The 35-year-old remains one of the stand-out fighters of his era.

“It’s time to hang up my gloves,” wrote Khan on his social media accounts yesterday. “I feel blessed to have had such an amazing career that has spanned over 27 years.”

The statement comes 12 weeks after his final fight, when Khan was stopped in the sixth round of a onesided grudge match by arch rival Kell Brook, who hung up his gloves a week ago.

Khan’s career first came to prominence when, aged 17, he won a silver medal at Athens 2004. After that he turned professional and soon became a unified light-welterweight world champion before challenging for world titles at welterweight and middleweight.

Remarkably, he was as successful in the United States as he was in the UK, training in the shadow of Manny Pacquiao and sharing a mentor in Freddie Roach, in Los Angeles.

The biggest promoters in the world, from Frank Warren to Oscar de la Hoya, all wanted to work with Khan, who had star-like qualities from the days when he became GB’S youngest Olympic medallist. He lost to Cuba’s Mario Kindelan in the 2004 final, but avenged that defeat before joining the paid ranks under Warren.

Recalling the reception after his Olympic success, Khan said: “I won a silver medal there, but the way I got treated when I came back, it was like I won the gold medal. The British people, I have to thank them for giving them this chance to prove myself.”

Khan fought a modern “Who’s Who” around his weight class, enjoying victories over Marco Antonio Barrera, Andreas Kotelnik – against whom he won his first world title – and going on to notable victories over Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana and Zab Judah. Back-toback losses in 2011 and 2012, controversially to Lamont Peterson and the following year being stopped by Danny Garcia, slowed his rise.

In the next decade, Khan lost three of 11 fights, to Saul Canelo Alvarez – at middleweight – Terence Crawford and Brook, at welterweight, never regaining the world title.