FIGHTING BACK
Family feuds, missing millions, but now Amir Khan is...
FOR Amir Khan the antidote to pain has been to grow up and calm down. Not the sharp pain in the broken right hand which has stabbed at him throughout his professional career. The far deeper hurt that came with betrayal of trust.
Khan doesn’t know exactly how many of his millions went missing but he was devastated to find where the trail led. To some of those closest to him.
At 30, at last he has control over affairs to which he never gave a moment’s thought as he concentrated on winning world titles.
He says: ‘For the first time I have taken charge of my own life. I am the boss now. And I have to deal as an adult with something pretty crushing.’
The grow- up call came six months ago. One million pounds had been paid out of his bank account for which he had no explanation. The budget for constructing one of his projects — a wedding and banqueting centre in Bolton — suddenly doubled to £6million.
The financial damage can be repaired with fights in the offing, which he still expects to include a £32m Dubai bonanza against his friend and former sparring partner Manny Pacquiao, despite delays in the negotiations.
The emotional damage takes longer to heal. He says: ‘I was shocked. I suddenly realised I was being ripped off. Certain property consultants and accountants were among those who had to go.’
It wasn’t the money which cut the deepest wound. He explains: ‘I could see that some people were cashing out. They thought I was washed up and there would be no more big-money fights. That was so cynical. I’d thought they were people who believed in me.’
The issue became distressingly confused with the family feud which erupted about the same time. Khan’s wife Faryal revealed that she was being attacked by his sisters for refusing to conform with the strictest elements of the Islamic dress code. This was a position which seemed to find sympathy with Amir’s parents. Amir and Faryal, although devout, are modernist Muslims.
The situation became more vexed as Khan sacked some, including relatives, and split with others in his team. The break was far from amicable, as he illustrates: ‘When I started going through things at the office they simply walked out. Just left me to deal with things I knew nothing about.
‘I had trusted my team with everything. I soon saw it was a complete mess. I also realised they, too, had decided I was done as a fighter. That hurt badly. They had earned a lot. I’m a generous person. People I loved also thought there would be no more money.’
It is now an extra incentive for him to justify the unconditional faith of his esteemed trainer, Virgil Hunter, who says: ‘Amir can still become not only a world champion for the third time but the greatest welterweight of all time.’
Since the contenders for that accolade include the two Sugar Rays — Robinson and Leonard — as well as Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather that is the ultimate compliment. In working to justify that assessment, Hunter is helped by the tribulations which have beset Khan.
He adds: ‘I’ve always said that to become the greatest he has to dedicate himself absolutely. At 30 he is still young enough to do it. He has all the attributes. As for the chin which people see as suspect, I can help him protect that as long as he concentrates for every second of every round.’
Khan sits in Hunter’s gymnasium across the bay from San Francisco. It is there that he has buried himself in training for the last nine weeks for a fight before mid-May — be it a marquee affair against Pacquiao or a tune-up for a title shot later this year.
It will soon be a year since he rolled the dice in Las Vegas by moving up two divisions to fight world middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, losing to a onepunch KO while ahead on the scorecards going into the sixth.
Khan has used the intermission to fix, at last, the hand broken in his second professional bout more than 10 years ago. He has had the time to take care of business too and is grateful to Faryal, the mother of their child.
‘At least there is one intelligent member of the family,’ he says.
‘My wife is a university graduate with the brains to help put my affairs in order. And I have my own family to take care of now.’
Not that he has abandoned the folks in Bolton altogether, saying: ‘I took care of my parents. I bought them a very nice house. After all they are still my Mum and Dad.’
His younger boxing brother Haroon was upset Amir did not attend his wedding, but the elder sibling says: ‘I feel sorrow for him now, but everyone did well from my hard work.’
The one fight Khan does not want is against Kell Brook — who will defend his world title against dangerous American Errol Spence Jr in Sheffield on May 27.
Khan blames Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn, saying: ‘I hate the trash talk. I’m setting him and Kell aside. Period.’
He goes on: ‘It was great to win an Olympic medal but I was too young for everything that followed.
‘I should have been my own boss when I was 21, but I was all about the boxing. For too long I had no idea what was going on. Those who thought I was history have given me a tremendous incentive to become world champion again.
‘I badly want to prove them wrong. Horrible though it was, they brought me to my senses.’
‘They decided I was done as a fighter... it hurt’