Amir Khan was desperate to get Floyd Mayweather Jr into the ring during his professional career and ironically now that he’s retired he might have a chance.
Khan was in Dubai ahead of Mayweather Jr’s exhibition fight with Don Moore, which has since been called off, when the pair bumped into each other and discussed a potential clash.
Instagram: @amirkingkhan
Khan and Mayweather Jr came face to face in Dubai last week
“Floyd was like, ‘Look, we should get on it.’ And I said ‘Brother, tomorrow I will announce my retirement.’ And he says ‘No, I don’t think you should’ Khan told talkSPORT.
“Obviously pro fighters tell you all your life ‘we should fight’ and they keep you on the sidelines, on the bench and I’m like forget that man, I want to be in control of myself.
“When I call it a day, I call it a day. I don’t call it a day because somebody else takes control like Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao says now we’re gonna fight you. Wait and wait around them so i thought no man, i’ll do what’s best for me.
‘King Khan’ nearly fought Mayweather Jr in 2014, when the self-proclaimed ‘Best Ever’ launched a Twitter poll to decide who he should fight next, with the options being Khan or Marcos Maidana.
Khan had beaten Maidana four years earlier in the ring and he also came top of the poll, but Mayweather Jr ended up ignoring him and fought the Argentine anyway.
In place of Mayweather Jr, Khan then decided to move up to middleweight and fight Canelo Alvarez, which turned out to be a bad decision, as he was knocked out devastatingly and his career never ended. totally discounted this point.
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Khan had a career best performance beating Maidana in 2010
It’s hard to believe Khan would be able to avoid the temptation and potential payday of an exhibition fight with Mayweather Jr, but for now he looks set to retire.
“We scored the rematch with Kell Brook.” Khan said: “Obviously it’s been contracted but I’m not going to fight if I don’t feel 100 per cent.
“It’s me. It’s not that I lost the fight. I’m not going to do it out of greed, because I would have gotten a big paycheck again. I don’t have the strength to fight anymore. fight anyone, not even for that money, not even if someone offered me a big, huge amount of money.
“Once you call it a day, you call it a day, man. I want to spend time with my family. I’m still one punch away from getting hurt and I don’t want to be that fighter who got hurt by the sport of boxing, so I’m glad I stopped that.
Laurent Lustig/BOXXER
Khan was outclassed by Brook and stopped in the last fight of his career
That being said Khan hasn’t ruled out the idea of an exhibition fight so maybe we can see him back in the ring sooner than expected and maybe it will even be with Mayweather Jr in the corner. opposite.
“Exposure? It depends on the exposure. Khan said, “How many rounds does it have, what’s in it. Otherwise, I think the hardest thing in boxing is training camps.
“It has never been easy, the training camps are solid! Who wants to be in training camps? I can no longer participate in a full training camp. My body is beaten. It’s falling apart.
“But, for an exhibition fight, how long do you have to train? A few weeks? Maybe two or three weeks? I mean, I don’t know. It’s something I could consider, but like I said, I don’t really want to go to a boxing gym right now because I want to enjoy my retirement.
“Once I start missing it I might start boxing training to keep the fitness and weight down but other than that like I said love is gone for the sport, I’m done with that.”
