I’M HOOKED ON BOXING
Khan says love of sport keeps him coming back
HE has won world titles, headlined at some of boxing’s most iconic venues and has earned more money than he ever imagined.
Yet Amir Khan says he can’t stop boxing because he loves the rush.
He’s addicted to the adrenaline he gets when he leaves the dressing room – and once the fight is over, he wants to do it all over again.
Khan, who has not lost his youthful enthusiasm after 14 years as a pro, said: “It’s the love I have for the sport, that’s why I’m still doing it.
“I’m a natural-born fighter. I love the adrenaline rush before a fight. Afterwards I just want to do it again because of how good the buzz is. As I leave the dressing room the switch goes.”
Khan, 32, will experience that same buzz when he walks out to face Terence Crawford at Madison Square Garden tomorrow and says he will continue fighting as long as he gets this feeling.
He said: “I want to quit just before I hate the sport. That could be after this fight or it could be in years.
“I love everything around boxing, it takes me away from distractions. It makes me a professional person and other people would die to be in my position. It has given me a new family, fame and love, and I like it.”
Fighting is in Khan’s blood and he comes from a warrior caste in Pakistan, called the Rajput Janjua.
He said: “I was always a tough kid, born that way. My family were cool. We were working class with my dad a mechanic with a garage and my mum a housewife.
“It was simple, my brothers and sisters all went to school, but maybe I was just the mad one. I was hyperactive, full of energy and always misbehaving. I was always fearless and never scared. I was born too brave.
“I looked back at my family, cousins and uncles and no-one is like me, no-one is as tough as me. I come from a warrior caste, I’m a Rajput Janjua. People in Pakistan understand.”
Khan’s daughter Lamaisah, four, told fellow passengers on the flight to New York with great relish that her daddy is going to “punch a man in the face”.
He said: “I told her not to be saying that because people will think I’m some kind of crazy nutter!”
Khan challenges Crawford for the WBO welterweight title live on BT Sport Box Office, tomorrow. For more info go to www.bt.com/btsportboxoffice.