Amir Khan never shied away from a challenge and has now revealed the one puncher who made the biggest impact on him.
Khan became a British sporting star even before he was out of his teenage years when he became the country’s youngest-ever boxing Olympic medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal in the lightweight division at the age of 17.
He turned professional in 2005 and became WBA champion within five years to make him one of the youngest Brits ever to do that, aged just 22.
From there he had a multitude of both highs and lows, including his first loss against Breidis Prescott in 2008, then victories over the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Paulie Malignaggi and an epic battle with Marcos Maidana in 2010 that saw him retain his WBA light-welterweight crown.
He was derailed by back-to-back losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia before another five-fight win streak against the likes of Chris Algieri and Carlos Molina led him into the path of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez up at middleweight for the WBC title.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine, Khan admitted that fight with Alvarez, which ended in a brutal one-punch knockout in the sixth round back in 2016, was the one he will never forget.
“When [Canelo] hit me, I didn’t really feel the punch, I was knocked out before I hit the floor. I do remember everything. There was one fight I don’t remember anything against Maidana. I’d rather be knocked out with one shot than take millions of shots like that because that definitely can affect you. [Against Breidis Prescott] that didn’t really feel that because I was still young.”
Canelo went on to become an undisputed super-middleweight champion and also won a belt up at light heavyweight, while Khan lost to both Terence Crawford and, in his final fight in 2022, was stopped by his old British rival Kell Brook before going into retirement.
