Amir Khan’s father first took him to the boxing gym when you was 8 years old to help get him to waste some of his youthful energy.
Once Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) stepped into the gym, he immediately felt a sense of belonging.
“When I walked into the gym for the first time you could hear the bags being punched, you could smell the sweat and the blood,” Khan said. ” It felt like home.”
That activity that was once used to tire out Khan as a child, has now turned into a successful career for Khan and his father, Shah, has bee there every step of the way.
“One hundred ten fights as an amateur, including the Olympic years,” Shah Khan said. “Everyone of them I got on video tape; because I was there.”
Despite fighting in several different countries as an amateur and a professional, Khan echoed his father, stating he’s been a mainstay in camp his entire career.
“We went to China, Korea, Russia, I fought all over the world,” Amir Khan said. “Yeah, my dad never missed an amateur fight, let alone a professional fight.”
Khan’s seen success in both the amateur and professional ranks, winning a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and becoming a two-time junior welterweight world champion as well.
Khan’s next shot at success is against Devon Alexander, Dec. 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which is a fight that is supposed to set him up for what has become the pinnacle of the sport in this day in age, a showdown with pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr with a win.
There is talk of Khan’s hand speed being a strong point for him if a Mayweather bout every materializes on top of Mayweather lacking the power he saw earlier in his career, giving Khan’s always suspect chin less of a chance of being exposed.
Alexander (26-2, 14 KOs) won’t be an easy out by any stretch, and with his questionable chin, Khan is a must see fighter, whether you watch for his immense skill and hand speed or to see if his so-called “glass chin” will yet again crumble, this time a shot a Mayweather Jr. crashing along with it.
Video courtesy of Showtime. Check out Khan versus Alexander and he rest of the quadrupleheader Saturday, Dec. 13, live on Showtime.
