Amir Khan: From Bolton and Athens Silver to Light Welterweight Champion and a Last Fight With Kell Brook

Amir Khan was a 17-year-old from Bolton when he boxed for Olympic gold in Athens. Over the next 17 years he became a world champion at light welterweight, filled arenas in Britain and Las Vegas, gambled on fights far above his natural weight and lost some of them in brutal fashion. His career ended in 2022 against the domestic rival he had circled for a decade, and a doping ban followed.

A Bolton Boy With Fast Hands

Amir Iqbal Khan was born on 8 December 1986 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, into a family of Pakistani Punjabi heritage. He has a younger brother, Haroon, who also boxed professionally, and the England cricketer Sajid Mahmood is his first cousin. He started boxing competitively at 11 and finished his amateur career 101–9, with a second-round stoppage of Victor Ortiz among the wins.

In 2003 he won gold at the AAU Junior Olympic Games in the United States, and in 2004 he won the World Junior Championships in Jeju, South Korea.

Athens 2004: Silver at Seventeen

In Athens he boxed at lightweight and beat Marios Kaperonis of Greece, Dimitar Shtilianov of Bulgaria, Baik Jong-sub of South Korea and Serik Yeleuov of Kazakhstan to reach the final. His opponent there was Cuba's Mario Kindelán, who had already beaten him 33–13 at a pre-Olympic tournament earlier that year. Kindelán won the final 30–22. Khan went home with silver and was, at the time, Britain's youngest Olympic boxing medallist. Later that year Kindelán came to Bolton for a third meeting, and this time Khan won.

A Fast Rise, Then 55 Seconds in Manchester

Khan turned professional in July 2005 and stopped David Bailey on his debut. On 14 July 2007 at the O2 Arena in London he took the Commonwealth lightweight title from Willie Limond in eight rounds.

The run ended on 6 September 2008 at the Manchester Evening News Arena. Breidis Prescott, a Colombian puncher, caught him with a left hook and a right, knocked him down twice and finished the fight 55 seconds into the first round. It remains one of British boxing's great upsets. On 6 December he stopped Oisin Fagan in two rounds, and on 14 March 2009, back at the same Manchester arena, he beat Marco Antonio Barrera on a technical decision.

World Champion at Light Welterweight

On 18 July 2009 Khan moved up to 140 pounds and outpointed Andreas Kotelnik in Manchester for the WBA light welterweight title. The scores were 120–108, 118–111 and 118–111. He was 22, which made him the third-youngest British boxer to win a world title. In December he needed 76 seconds to stop Dmitry Salita in Newcastle, and in May 2010 he made his American debut at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, where he stopped Paulie Malignaggi in the 11th round.

On 11 December 2010 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas he beat Marcos Maidana by unanimous decision (114–111, 114–111, 113–112). The Boxing Writers Association of America named it Fight of the Year. In July 2011 a body shot knocked out Zab Judah in the fifth round, and Khan added the IBF belt to his WBA title. His trainer in this period was Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.

Peterson and García: Two Defeats in Seven Months

On 10 December 2011 Khan defended both belts against Lamont Peterson in Washington, D.C. Referee Joe Cooper took a point from Khan for pushing in the seventh round and another in the twelfth. Peterson won a split decision, 113–112 on two cards, with the third judge scoring it 115–110 for Khan. The WBA ordered a rematch, set for May 2012, but it was called off when a test taken in March showed synthetic testosterone in Peterson's system. Khan was then reinstated as WBA champion.

He fought next on 14 July 2012 at Mandalay Bay against Danny García of Philadelphia, who held the WBC belt and was unbeaten. Khan was the quicker man and was winning the early rounds. Late in the third, García countered with a left hook that put him down. García dropped him twice more early in the fourth, and the referee stopped the fight at 2:28 of the round. Khan had now lost both of his belts in the ring in the space of seven months.

Welterweight, and a Leap to Face Canelo

At welterweight Khan put together wins over Devon Alexander in December 2014 and Chris Algieri in May 2015 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. On 7 May 2016 he challenged Canelo Álvarez for the WBC middleweight title at a catchweight of 155 pounds, in the first boxing event at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Khan was 31–4 with 19 knockouts going in, and ESPN reported a crowd of 16,540. (ESPN's report gives the date as 8 May; most accounts use the Las Vegas date of 7 May.)

For five rounds his speed and movement kept him in the fight. After five, two judges had Álvarez ahead (49–46 and 48–47) and the third had Khan in front 48–47. In the sixth Álvarez landed a right hand to the chin, and the knockout was given at 2:37. He told ESPN he was naturally a 147-pound fighter and that the challenge "was hard to turn down."

Crawford, Saudi Arabia and the Long Wait for Brook

After two years out of the ring Khan returned in April 2018 and knocked out Phil Lo Greco in 39 seconds in Liverpool, the quickest win of his career. On 20 April 2019 at Madison Square Garden he challenged Terence Crawford for his welterweight title. Crawford knocked him down in the first round. In the sixth Khan was hit with an accidental low blow and chose not to carry on, so the fight was stopped and Crawford won by technical knockout. Three months later in Jeddah he stopped Billy Dib in four rounds.

His rivalry with Kell Brook of Sheffield went back years before they fought. The two met on 19 February 2022 at the AO Arena in Manchester, at a catchweight of 149 pounds. Al Jazeera's report describes a one-sided fight. Khan was never knocked down, but referee Victor Loughlin stopped it 51 seconds into the sixth round. Afterwards Khan reflected to reporters, "Maybe I peaked too early, I was at the Olympics at 17, I won the world title at 22."

Retirement and a Doping Ban

Khan announced his retirement on social media in May 2022 at the age of 35. His professional record was 34 wins (21 by knockout) and 6 losses in 40 fights. A test taken on the night of the Brook fight had already found ostarine, an anabolic agent. He was provisionally suspended in April 2022 and charged in July. A National Anti-Doping Panel heard the case in January 2023 and issued its decision on 21 February. It accepted that Khan had not taken the substance deliberately, but under the strict-liability rule it still banned him from all sport for two years. The ban was made public in April 2023. Khan told ESPN, "I've never cheated in my life." Reports differ on how the ban was dated: ESPN gives a period starting in April 2022, while other coverage measures it from the 2023 ruling.

Away from the ring Khan appeared on the 2017 series of "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!" and on its first South African edition in 2023. Wikipedia's article credits him with drawing many British Pakistanis and British Asians into the sport.

Sources

• Amir Khan (boxer), Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Mario Kindelán, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Boxing: Amir Khan mulls retirement after defeat to Kell Brook, Al Jazeera, 20 February 2022
• Canelo Alvarez defeats Amir Khan by knockout in sixth round, ESPN, May 2016
• British boxer Amir Khan handed two-year ban for failed drug test, ESPN, April 2023
• Amir Khan handed two-year ban from all sport by UKAD for doping, STV News, 4 April 2023