1-on-1 with Amir Khan

AMIR KHAN has had a pretty successful year having made his American debut in America and closing 2010 with a unanimous points victory over Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas. Earlier this month, Khan had to put his 24th birthday celebrations on hold as he defended his WBA world light-welterweight title against Maidana. But the champ finally got a chance to celebrate his big day back home in Bolton and put his feet up. BASA'S Zohaib Rashid caught up with King Khan as he tucked into a chicken steak to talk about the fight, topping the bill in America and why appearance is everything…

Amir, how does it feel to be back at home after all those months spent training for the big fight in the Philippines and America?

It feels good to be back home. First of all, it’s amazing when you come home and you have your mum's cooking and surrounded by family and friends. I’m a very family person and love being around them.

Have you had a chance to have the birthday cakes they saved for you?

Oh man, I've had birthday cakes non-stop for the last three days. I've had about four cakes, eaten two so far. A lot of friends and family have been around and I’ve served them cakes and they’ve sung happy birthday to me so many times. The amount of times they’ve sung it, I should be 40-years-old!

You’ve been in a disciplined mode for so long because of the fight with Maidana so it must be great to just let go...

Trust me man, it's the best thing ever! When you’re training, you’re so disciplined and eating the right food, your body's like a temple. You’re taking all the right vitamins, eating healthy and there are no fizzy drinks at the training camp. But now, you won’t believe this, I’ve got a chicken steak in front of me with chips, mayonnaise and a fizzy drink! I can make the most of it now. I appreciate food and enjoy it after the fight, but I know that when I’m training, I need to put the right fuel in the tank because if you eat the right food, it helps you perform better.

What would Alex Ariza, your conditioning coach, make of it?

Alex would start crying if he saw me eating this! He’s not that bad to be honest because he understands that when I’m training, I’m very disciplined. But when I’m out of training, I’ll eat and drink what I like.

You put in a great shift in the ring against Maidana at Las Vegas last week. What kind of message do you think your sent out with your performance?

To be honest, I've always said to people that I’ve got heart and I can fight in tie-ups and I’m the best fighter in the 140-pound division. I think I’ve proven that. I took some shots as well, got hit by a guy who is the hardest hitter in the division and has knocked out 27 out of 30 fighters. Maidana's been knocking out fighters but he could not knock me down. He did not have the power to knock me down or hurt me. Maybe in round 10 I was hurt a little bit but I was fine. He could not take me off my feet and I think I showed and proved a lot in that fight.

The judges scored the fight pretty close. Two of them recorded it 114-111 in your favour and the other had it at 113-112. How did you see the fight?

I thought they were a lot closer than the fight was. I watched the fight back and scored it myself and I thought I won the fight by five or six rounds. But you have to remember Maidana was their favourite guy because he lives in Vegas they don’t want to give world titles away.

…It seemed strange that you scored a knockdown and Maidana had a point taken off as well by the referee and yet it was still close…

Yeah, I even thought that myself. I knew I won the fight ‘cos he only had three good rounds. Half the time he was hitting me on my gloves and on my guard. But it’s always different everywhere you go, different countries, and different commissions. I wasn't going to argue with the result because whether I won by one round or 12, I knew I won the fight. If Maidana wants a rematch, I’ll give him one and this time I’ll knock him clean out, but we'll just see what happens.

You realised one of your dreams by fighting in Las Vegas and had an amazing build up to the fight. How did you cope with it?

The build up to the fight was amazing but I had to keep really focused because I didn’t want it to get to me. Being young, it’s easy to get distracted but I stayed calm and didn’t let it get to me. There were a lot of people who came from all over the world to see Amir Khan fight. Vegas was full of my fans and when I walked into the arena, I saw the crowd all supporting me. Maidana didn’t even have that many fans, just a few. But it showed how my profile and name is getting bigger around the world, not only in the UK.

You’ve now topped the bill at New York’s Madison Square Garden and at Vegas. How does that feel?

It’s an honour because when you can top bills at the age of 23 in New York and at 24 in Las Vegas, it’s amazing and because not many fighters do that. I’m the youngest ever British fighter to go to top the bill in America and take on one of the best fighters and defend a world title there. It’s an honour and great record to have.

But it has been more than a year since you last fought in the UK, against Dmitriy Salita in Newcastle back in December 2009. You’re fans over here have been missing you…

Yeah, they're missing me and I want to come back to the UK in April. I want to have a big fight over here for them, either in Manchester or London

You’ve become a main event fighter in your last few bouts and your future clashes, I guess, will be against top calibre fighters…

That’s right; it’s only going to be the big fights for me, no going back to domestic level. It's exciting for me because I’m only 24 and sometimes I have to pinch myself. No young fighter has done this at my age, not even Floyd Mayweather Jr. There are only a few fighters who make a name for themselves at this age and it’s an honour. When other British fighters went to America for their big fights, they were 27, 28. I’ve done things quicker than any other fighter. Maybe the reason to that is I want to retire early, at 28. I want to clean up the division and leave my mark. And I’m looking to move up a division in the next 12 months.

Talking about Floyd Mayweather, have you seen the video he has uploaded in reference to a possible bout with you?

I have heard about it but haven’t seen it. At the end of the day, you have to remember that a lot of the stuff he does is for the cameras. I know him personally as well and he’s not a bad guy. But if the fight ever happened, it will take place in the next 12 months and I know I’ll be an even better fighter then.

It’s been three years since you won your first major professional title beating Willie Limond to become the Commonwealth lightweight champion. What’s the difference between the Amir Khan of 2007 and now?

Oh man, big difference! I’ve won a world title and there’s been a lot of changes. I’ve moved training camps, changed promotion teams and started my own. And I’m taking boxing more seriously and becoming more professional. I’ve also tasted defeat (against Breidis Prescott) and come back from it. Not many fighters come back from a defeat like I did and I think that shows heart. I think it’s one of the best ever comebacks in boxing.

One thing that people have observed in particular is that you've started to wear suits to press conferences…

Yeah, it’s funny because I never thought that made a difference. But when I started wearing them and getting compliments, I started to take boxing more seriously as a business. It makes a big difference because boxing is a business. When you’re fighting, there’s a lot of money involved in the fight, and you think, ‘I shouldn’t wear a tracksuit, I should be more professional’. If your opponent wants to wear tracksuits, that’s fine. But at the end of the say, I’m top of the bill and the main attraction. There's a time and place to chill out and wear what you want but at a press conference, when you've got the world watching, you have to project a professional image.

Any final thoughts?

I wanted to finish off the year with a big bang and we've just done that and hopefully we can finish next year off even bigger…

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