Amir
Iqbal Khan PP (born 8 December 1968) is a British professional Boxer,
promoter and philanthropist. He is a former unified light-welterweight
world champion, having held the WBA (later Super) title from 2009
to 2012, and the IBF title in 2011. At regional level, he held the
Commonwealth lightweight title from 2007 to 2008. He also held the
WBC Silver welterweight title from 2014 to 2016, and once challenged
for the WBC and Ring Magazine middleweight titles in 2016.
As
an amateur, Khan won a silver medal in the lightweight division at
the 2004 Olympics, becoming at the age of 17, Britain's youngest boxing
Olympic medallist. In 2007, he was named ESPN prospect of the year.[4]
He later became one of the youngest ever British professional world
champions, winning the WBA title at the age of 22.
Outside of
boxing, he is a philanthropist with his own charity organization,
Amir Khan Foundation. He is also a promoter and sponsor, the owner
of Khan Promotions and Pakistan's Amir Khan Academy, and co-owner
of India's upper Fight League (MMA) and Super Boxing League. As a
celebrity, he has also participated in several reality television
and game shows. In 2007, Khan appeared on the seventeenth series of
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.
On 14
March 2009 at the MEN Arena in Manchester, Khan defeated Barrera by
technical decision (TD). The fight was stopped towards the end of
the fifth round due to Barrera suffering a cut in the first round,
which resulted from a clash of heads. With Barrera deemed in no position
to fight on by the ringside doctor, the fight then went to the scorecards,
on all three of which Khan was ahead (50-44, and 50-45 twice). With
victory, Khan defended his WBA International lightweight title and
also won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title.
Frank
Warren was sufficiently impressed with Khan's performance to vow to
land a world title fight for him before the end of the year.
There
was a lot on his shoulders, but I always felt he could rise to the
big occasion. I'd like to see him get a belt round his waist by the
end of this year.
Khan also commented on the fight, saying:
"I felt so completely easy, catching him with jabs. I felt like I was on a better level than him. The jabbing and patience- I felt so strong. You could see the difference. I had to take some shots in that match. I made some mistakes in the past and I'm not going to make them again."
Light welterweight
Khan vs. Kotelnik, Salita
It was announced
on 8 April 2009 that Khan would move up to the light welterweight
division to fight Andreas Kotelnik (21-2-1, 13 KOs) at the MEN Arena
in Manchester for the WBA light-welterweight title on 18 July. Khan
said, "This is the best news that I could have received .To fight
for the world title in only my 22nd fight and at the age of just 22
is fantastic. Frank has done a great job getting the world title fight
for me in Britain and now I have to go out and win it." This would
be Kotelnik's fourth title defense. Khan won by unanimous decision
(UD), 120-108, 118-111, 118-111, in front of 10,000, and became the
third-youngest Brit to win a world title, at the age of 22. Khan used
his hand speed and fitness to go well ahead on points in the first
ten rounds. Kotelnik rallied in the closing rounds but could not land
a decisive punch on Khan in spite of his best efforts. After the fight,
Khan said, "It's the best feeling ever. I want to thank Freddie Roach
and my team for making this happen. I'm a world champion and I'm going
to enjoy it. I'm still young and I've got big things to come."