Bolton boxer Amir Khan speaks about life and career ahead of release of new book
Amir Khan spoke about his life and career in an extended interview with ITV Granada Reports sports correspondent Chris Hall
Former world boxing champion Amir Khan says being robbed at gunpoint was "one of the scariest things that ever happened".
The boxer was targeted as he and his wife, Faryal Makhdoom, 31, left the Sahara Grill restaurant in Leyton, east London, in April 2022
A trial at east London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how he was forced to hand over his bespoke, rose gold, diamond-encrusted Franck Muller watch, a gift following a boxing match, worth between £60,000 to £70,000, by gunman Dante Campbell.
Speaking to ITV Granada Reports in one of his most personal interviews to date, ahead of the release of his autobiography called 'Fight For Your Life', Khan, from Bolton, recounted the moment he was held at gunpoint.
He said: "I remember looking through the barrel of that gun. Your whole life goes past you. Your kids, your wife, your parents.
"I'm very nervous on the streets now. I travel with security now."
Khan's boxing career started at age eight when he was described as a "chubby, hyperactive kid".
Khan said: "I'd be lost without boxing. I don't know where I'd be."
But, despite a title-filled profession, including becoming Britain's youngest boxing Olympic medalist in 2004 aged just 17, and winning the WBA title at the age of 22, he was honest in admitting he gave up in his 2019 fight with Terrence Crawford.
He said: "I got hit with that low shot. Probably still could have continued but I was like I don't have it in me.
"That's when I realised the love for the sport had gone."
The book touches on many elements in his personal life with his wife Faryal.
"At times, I've not been the best husband really. It builds my respect for Faryal even more because she's just stood by me", Amir said.
"I want to be a changed man. The book is like a love letter to my wife as well."
The book also touched on Amir's mental breakdown and his fall out with his family over what he believed to be mismanagement of his finances.
He said: "You're thinking you've got maybe 5% of that in your account.
"I probably went through the hardest time of my life. I had a mental breakdown.
"I came off a loss, then a hand operation, wanting to leave tour wife, having a family fallout.
"Thinking you've got millions in the bank but it turns out you've got a fraction of that."
Despite being retired, Khan does not rule out a return to the ring.
"I want to go back to my fitness again. There's talks about me maybe doing an exhibition. But it has to be something big", he said.
Fight For Your Life is out on 14 September and is available in all major bookstores.
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