Get in the ring with Amir Khan

It's one of the hardest sports in the world. We've seen boxing elevate men to the highest rank of social and cultural respect and reverence. We've also seen it do the exact opposite. When you're a boxing hero everyone loves you but when you get knocked out, that's it, you're done, your time in the ring is over. But it's all about how you get up, how you fight back, how you think. Sounds like a movie doesn't it?

Well, Amir Khan's life and career has been a lot like a good boxing movie. To start off with, his accomplishments in the boxing world are impressive, in both his amateur and professional career. A former unified light-welterweight world champion, he held the WBA title from 2009 to 2012 and then the IBF title in 2011. Amir then held the Commonwealth lightweight title from 2007 to 2008, the WBC Silver welterweight title from 2014 to 2016, and has challenged once for a middleweight world title in 2016.

People are obsessed with boxing. As equally as we want to see the fight in the ring, it's our fascination with the narratives of the boxers' lives that also draws us in. Often or not, they've defeated odds and endured extreme training to get where they want to be. For us we found, the parallels in this tough sport an interesting topic to explore with Amir. The importance of physical and mental training, the journey and the fight, winning and losing, the sport and the business, entertainment and social responsibilities. Nothing was off the table or out of the ring when we met with Amir.  With a soft spoken demeanour and gentle, down to earth attitude, he described his career and ambitions with the same mature passion that is evident in his skills as a boxer.

Most young boys like getting into a bit of a fight. But not all of them end up as boxers. More than skill, your motivation has to be incredibly strong, your dedication to training unparalleled. So what kind of inspiration makes you dedicate your life to boxing?
"I think it was around when I was 12 or 13. Because I was getting a lot of people saying to me that I was a good fighter, you'll become a superstar one day if you keep doing what you're doing. And that was just great motivation for me because watching fighters on television like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, I thought one day I want to be like them. I want to fill up stadiums."
Despite wanting to fill stadiums and being watched by a crowd during a fight, the sport of boxing is one of the loneliest sports there is.

"Boxing has to be one of the hardest sports in the world. You go into the ring where you're going to be one-on-one with someone who is super fit and someone who is also trained to win the fight as well. So it becomes a technical fight as well. You're fighting against someone who wants to win and then having the whole world watching you at the same time. It adds that little bit of pressure but I'm a guy who thrives off that pressure and I want to prove people wrong and always want to succeed."
 
The build up to a fight can be just as exciting as seeing the boxers come inches away from each other in the ring. Trash talking your opponent has become an art form itself. Is mudslinging just as important as throwing punches for a boxer?

"It's a great build up. Whenever you're in a press conferences, the weigh ins, when you're not in the ring, in a way you're like a dog on a leash because you're ready to fight and you have your opponent in front of you and you know you're going to be in the ring fighting this guy, so you know you can't really like the guy, so it does get a little bit personal. I think it's good because it helps promote the fight. And helps get people talking about it, so I think it is very vital for a fight because that's the way to get the word out, that's the way you get the fans attracted and geared up and they get as excited as you because they want to see who is going to win this fight. Trash talking comes with the package."

There is a lot of negativity around Islam and being a Muslim in the world and media. Positive and contemporary Muslim role models are few and far in between. Does Amir feel any pressure to be an example to other Muslims?

"I want to be a role model. I want to show the world that there are a lot of positive people in Islam. And I'm one of those positive people who gives Islam a good name. I want your kids to follow my footsteps and do positive things in the world and represent their culture and their religion in the right way. Whenever you go to a fight, you look in the stand, you see thousands of people - all different colours, all different races - and I could be fighting a Christian or non Muslim and I still have a lot of people rooting for me because they don't see me as anything else but a good fighter."
The Big Fight in Dubai
"Dubai has become a hub for many sporting events from Formula One, Rugby, Tennis and Cricket. Can we expect Dubai to be the centre of the next big boxing fight? "I love Dubai," says Amir. "Maybe one day I would love to have a big fight over here. Because you see all the big sports coming here - cricket, tennis, Formula One, so maybe one day I imagine having boxing over here. Normally all the big boxing fights are in Vegas so why not make this like Vegas and have a big fight here."

The Importance of Family
Amir is a husband, and father to a two-year-old girl. Does that in anyway affect his mentality as a boxer?

"Everything I do in the sport of boxing is for my daughter. And I want to make sure that my family is financially secure, once I retire. I'm in the hardest sport in the world and I can't make mistakes. I enjoy myself and everything else. But then it's also making sure your family is going to be good after your boxing career. I've seen so many fighters out there who made millions and millions and they are broke after boxing and it's sad to see that. I never want be in that position. You have to be very smart as well. It's all about having a good team around you."
The Fine Art of Boxing
Boxing movies are huge. From Jake Gyllenhaal  in Southpaw and Christian Bale in The Fighter people love watching films about boxers.

"I think its brilliant to see the behind-the-scenes. It shows you who to trust, who not to trust, what can happen in this  business. It's a business at the end of the day with a lot of money, and it's good to see in these movies that when there is a lot of money on the table, the fighters do get broke - cause a lot of them think the money is going to keep coming in."
Boxing Icons
"I met Muhammad Ali numerous times. I was invited to his funeral as well but I couldn't go cause I just had a hand operation and I wasn't allowed to fly. But he was my hero and he was just a great inspiration for me because what he did in the sport . . . he was a Muslim who was speaking his truth and was not afraid to tell people that he was a Muslim. I took a page from his book really. I try and do the same thing."
On Training
"Training is really hard. It's the hardest training in any sport. Early hours in the morning you go for a run or you swim in the morning. It's a freezing cold swimming pool. I have a nutritionist, a dietician and a chef who live with me 24/7. I only eat what they cook for me. The harder you train the easier the fight is. I never like to walk into a fight thinking I'm not trained and not ready. I like walking into a fight knowing that I'm ready, that I've trained hard."

Training Motivation
"I know my opponent is training and that's my motivation. So while he's sleeping, I'm training. I know he's thinking about me as much as I'm thinking about him, because he's going to be in that ring. I usually give myself about 12 weeks of training and in those 12 weeks of training it's all focused on what my opponent does, what he's going to bring to the ring, what type of style he has of fighting and how I need to beat him."
 
Mental Training
"You have to have poker face when you get into the ring. You can never be angry, because being angry in boxing makes you make mistakes. I never get angry, I'm always calm in the ring. Boxing is an art. One punch can change a fight. It's making sure that technically you're the better fighter. He might be more powerful than you but you might have more speed than him. I use that toward my advantage. Skill is something that wins me fights. Skills pay the bills in my opinion. If you're a skillful fighter you can overcome anything.