Amir “King” Khan

Last Updated on February 4, 2022 6:01 pm by Erwin Noguera

Amir Iqbal Khan PP is a British professional boxer, promoter, and philanthropist born on December 8th, 1986. 

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 the 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 was once challenged for the WBC and Ring Magazine middleweight titles in 2016.

Boxing Profile – Amir Khan – 5 Most Recent Fights:

Middleweight Attempt:

Khan vs. Álvarez

In early 2016, Khan began to move up two weight divisions to middleweight, to fight Canelo Álvarez (46–1–1, 32 KOs) WBC, The Ring, and lineal middleweight titles. 

The fight took place on 7 May 2016, at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Khan lost to Álvarez by way of knockout in round six. 

Although many believe Khan was ahead on points including ESPN, two of the ringside judges had Álvarez ahead after five rounds (49–46 and 48–47), the third judge had Khan ahead (48–47).

Return to welterweight

Khan vs. Lo Greco

On 10 January 2018, during a live press conference in London, Khan signed a three-fight deal with Eddie Hearn at Matchroom Sport. 

The deal meant Khan would fight exclusively on Sky Sports, with his return bout in the UK taking place on 21 April at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

On 29 January, Phil Lo Greco (28–3, 17 KOs) was announced as his opponent.

The bout was at a catchweight of 150 pounds, as requested by Lo Greco’s team. 

Khan trained with Joe Goosen for the fight, with Virgil Hunter unavailable due to ill health.

The fight would be the first boxing main event to stream on ESPN’s new streaming service ESPN+.

Khan knocked Lo Greco out in 39 seconds of round one, setting a new record for himself. 

The first knockdown occurred after just 15 seconds when Khan landed a right hand to the head. 

Lo Greco appeared hurt but managed to beat the 10 counts. When the action resumed, Khan quickly moved on Lo Greco, putting him against the ropes with a flurry of punches until he dropped once more. 

Referee Victor Loughlin called a halt to the fight immediately.

Khan vs. Vargas

At an official press conference on 28 June, it was announced that Khan would return to Arena Birmingham for the first time since 2008. This time, against Colombian Samuel Vargas (29–3–2, 14 KOs), who, at the moment, had a five-fight unbeaten run.

Vargas weighed 146 lbs. At first attempt, Khan weighed 147.2 lbs. He then took off his socks and weighed 147.1 lbs. Khan then took off his shorts, stripping completely naked, and made the 147 lbs limit.

The fight took place on 8 September 2018, Khan won the fight by UD, with scores of 119–108, 119–109, and 118–110.

Khan vs. Crawford

On 9 December 2018, it was reported that Top Rank had offered Khan a guaranteed $5 million purse, plus a percentage of PPV revenue, to fight Terence Crawford on 23 March 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The fight was made official in January 2019, and it was set to take place at Madison Square Garden on 20 April. 

Khan returned to veteran trainer Virgil Hunter for the Crawford bout. Hunter was unable to train Khan for his previous two bouts due to ill health.

Khan was comprehensively outboxed by Crawford and was knocked down in the first round. 

In round six, Khan was hit by an accidental low blow, and during the allocated five-minute recovery time, trainer Virgil Hunter threw in the towel to hand Crawford a TKO victory. 

At the time of the stoppage, Crawford leads on all three scorecards, 50–44, and 49–45 twice.

Following the fight, Khan had to respond to criticism that he quit in the ring.

Khan vs. Dib

On 12 July 2019 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Khan defeated former IBF featherweight champion Billy Dib by technical knockout in the fourth round to win the vacant WBC International welterweight title. 

Dib took the fight on short notice in June after Khan’s original opponent Neeraj Goyat was injured in a car crash. 

On the night, Khan sent Dib to the canvas in the second round with a left hook. 

In the fourth round, a double left hook followed by a rapid combination knocked Dib down again, prompting his corner to throw in the towel