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'Amir Khan' (born December 8, 1986) is a British boxer from Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. He is the IBF inter-continental light welterweight champion, the current Commonwealth lightweight champion, and is ranked # 7 in the WBO world lightweight rankings.^[1]
He went to Ruebnt Devonshire Road Primary School, Smithills High School and Bolton Community College in Bolton. He was a hyperactive child and ''a born fighter'', according to his father, who encouraged him to take up boxing. His hero is Muhammad Ali.
Khan belongs to Janjua Rajput clan of Pakistan, which has a long and well documented history of warrior kings and a strong martial reputation. He often uses his position as a well-known British Muslim to encourage better relations between British Muslims and the wider community, particularly in his home town of Bolton. He is the older brother of boxer Haroon Khan and the younger cousin of cricketer Sajid Mahmood.

Contents

Amateur

Professional

Record

Amateur

Professional

Personal life

References

External links

Amateur

Khan rose to fame as Britain's sole representative in boxing at the 2004 Athens Olympics, winning a silver medal at the age of 17 in the lightweight boxing category. He was Britain's youngest Olympic boxer since Colin Jones in 1976. He lost in the final to Mario Kindelan, the Cuban who had also beaten him several months earlier in the pre-Olympic match ups in Greece. In 2005 he avenged the two losses by sparking out 34 year old Kindelan in his final amateur fight. This fight was also notable for being the first boxing match ITV had chosen to show live in a decade.

Professional

Despite declaring after the 2004 Olympics that he would pursue a Gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Khan turned professional in 2005, signing with England's leading boxing promoter, Frank Warren. This was fuelled by a row with the English Amateur Boxing Association over the ticketing allocation for his family and friends at the English ABA Finals.
He has won his first twelve professional fights, drawing good reviews in the press. Amir is compared to the only other British Pakistani fighter Ashish Khan. His style and technique are very similar to that of Ashish Khan who was the three times UK amateur Heavyweight champion from 2002- 2005.
Khan fought for the lowly regarded IBF Inter-continental title against French fighter Rachid Drilzane on December 9, 2006, winning a 10 round decision despite the fact titles are usually contested over 12 rounds. Khan experienced the first knockdown of his career, he claimed he got his foot caught in the rope and touched down with his glove, giving the referee no choice but to award his opponent the knock-down. ^[1] Drilzane had never scored a knockout in his 13 fight career.
Khan has announced his intention to be a World Champion by the time he is 21, by the end of 2007 - comments which have prompted reactions from boxing fans directed towards his promoter to increase the level of his opposition. Khan's life and career to date have already been documented in a book titled ''Amir Khan: a Boy from Bolton'' (ISBN 0747587604) and he has even released a DVD of his first nine fights. Also he has been known for reading his prayer before fighting in the ring. On April
7th, he beat Stefy Bull in a three round Technical Knockout in Cardiff.
On July 14 2007 Khan faced Willie Limond for the Commonwealth Lightweight Title. During the fight Khan was knocked down in the 6th round and appeared to be hurt, after another barrage of right hands Khan weathered the storm, and in the 7th knocked down Limond. Limond sustained a perforated eardrum and broken nose, and the referee stopped the fight on advice of the fight doctor as he suspected Limond's jaw was broken in a round 8.

Record

Amateur

★ 2003 - Won a gold medal at the AAU Junior Olympics.

★ 2004 - Won a gold medal at the European Student Championships and the World Junior Championships.

★ 2004 - Won the Strandja Cup to qualify for the Olympics in Athens

★ 2004 - Won a silver medal at the Olympics, beating Marios Kaperonis, Dimitar Stilianov, Jong Sub Baik and Serik Yeleuov. He lost to Mario Kindelan in the final.

★ 2005 - Beat Craig Watson on points in the ABA Championships.

★ 2005 - Won the last match of his amateur career beating Mario Kindelan 19-13 in Bolton.

Professional

★ July 16, 2005 - Won first professional fight by TKO in the 1st round beating David Bailey.

★ September 10, 2005 - Beat Baz Carey on points after a full four rounds at the International Arena, Cardiff.

★ November 5, 2005 - Defeated Steve Gethin by TKO in the third round at Braehead Arena, Glasgow.

★ December 10, 2005 - Beat Daniel Thorpe in the second round by TKO at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre, London.

★ January 28, 2006 - Beat Vitali Martynov of Belarus in the first round by TKO at the Nottingham Arena, Nottingham.

★ February 25, 2006 - Beat "Action" Jackson Williams of Norwich in the third round by TKO at the ExCel Exhibition Centre, London.

★ May 20, 2006 - Beat Laszlo Komjathi of Hungary on points at the King's Hall, Belfast.

★ July 8, 2006 - Beat Colin Bain of Scotland in the second round by TKO at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

★ September 2, 2006 - Beat Ryan Barrett in the first round by TKO, after just 1 minute and 52 seconds.

★ December 9, 2006 - Beat Rachid Drilzane of France by unanimous points decision (99-91 in ten rounds) for the IBF inter-continental light welterweight title.

★ February 17, 2007 - Beat Mohammed Medjadi of France at Wembley Arena, London by TKO in the first round in 43 seconds.

★ April 7, 2007 - Beat Steffy Bull at the Millennium Stadium in the third round by TKO after 1 minute and 43 seconds.

★ July 14, 2007 - Beat Willie Limond in the 8th round for the Commonwealth Lightweight Title at the O2 Arena.

★ October 6 2007 - Will face Scott Lawton at the Nottingham Arena, It is not known whether Khan will defend his Commonwealth Title, but it seems he is unlikely to make a manditory defence.

Personal life

★ He is an avid supporter of his local football club, Bolton Wanderers, and often uses the club's training facilities at the Reebok Stadium.

★ Attended Smithills school in Bolton and Bolton Community College.

★ He is a first cousin of the England Cricketer Sajid Mahmood.^[2]

★ He has a younger brother named Haroon Khan who is currently an amateur boxer.

★ He has performed an Umrah in 2006, he left England for Saudi Arabia on September 5 and returned on September 16.

★ He had gone to help out the Pakistani Earthquake Victims.

★ Is involved in the No Messin' campaign which promotes child safety around British railways. ^[3]

★ He enjoys playing sports such as football and cricket.

★ He is good friends with footballers Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka and tennis player Andy Murray.

★ He is a car enthusiast and owns several private number plates.^[4]
Amir has made a series of three 50 hour long programmes with troubled lads for Channel 4. The programme aims to use the disciplines of boxing, coupled with faith and family values, to help re-focus the lives of these young men and hopefully help steer away from trouble in future. The volunteers for this ambitious social project are Niamat Ali Khan, Paddy Cooke, Jake Gorner, Anthony Murray,Derek Potter, and Paul Reed. The programme "Amir Khan's Angry Young Men" - screened in August/September 2007.

References

1. Khan into WBO Top 10, ''amirkhan-boxing.com''
2. Mum's curries keep us at home, ''sport.guardian.co.uk'', 30 July, 2006.
3. No Messin' Live! 2006 ''networkrailmediacentre.co.uk'', 6 July, 2006.
4. Amir Khan - Boxing Clever, ''regtransfers.co.uk'', July 2007.

External links

★ Amir Khan's official website

★ BoxRec profile (BoxRec)

★ Amir Khan's official fansite

★ Amir Khan Boxing Equipment from RBK