Is Amir Khan the Most Hated Boxer In The UK?
April 18th, 2009
By William Mackay: Rightly or wrongly, lightweight Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KOs) is making his first title challenge on June 27th against Ukrainian Andriy Kotelnik (31-2-1, 13 KOs), the World Boxing Association light welterweight champion. Under most circumstances, this should be a moment that’s looked forward to by most British boxing fans due to Khan, the 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist for Britain, getting such a fast shot at the title in his career.
Khan, 22, was receiving a great deal of negative publicity even before that fight by fans and writers, some of it because of his shaky chin at times and others because of his so-called weak opposition. I think most of it is unfair to be honest. I’ve checked the early records of Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton, both of which were fighting mostly soft opponents through four years of their professional boxing career.
So, if it was okay for them to fight lower level opponents, then why isn’t it okay for Khan? I think he’s proven that the loss to Prescott was a fluke thing in Amir’s recent 5th round technical decision victory over Marco Antonio Barrera. When Khan is fighting smart and thinking defensively, there’s few better fighters than him in the sport.
So, is there a fighter that is more hated than Khan in the UK, and if so, who? I can’t think any fighter that is as polarizing as Amir Khan, and it just seems so odd that he’s been the one that’s getting so much abuse. Is it that the UK eats their young?
I remember all the abuse that Audley Harrison, another Olympic Gold Medal winner for Britain, took from the British public early in his career. Why was that? It seemed unfair because he was being pushed much too fast for the skills that he needed to learn. Harrison seemed to never get a chance by many fans, as they ripped him to shreds even at the very infancy of his pro career.
Now that James DeGale has emerged as another Gold Medal winner for Britain from the 2008 Olympics, he’s receiving a similar fate. However, none of those fighters are criticized as much as Amir Khan. He holds a special place for many fans who take pleasure seemingly in blasting him and questioning his talent.
I wonder what they’ll say when Khan defeats Kotelnik and wins the WBA title? My guess is that even then Khan won’t get much credit for it.
Khan has received a lot of attacks recently because he’s chosen to jump at the chance to move up to the light welterweight division and get a title shot against Kotelnik.
Why on Earth should Khan be criticized for this I ask you? If he had stayed at lightweight, he wasn’t going to get a title shot for at least year so he did the wise thing and moved up for an opportunity. Fighters do it all the time and don’t face abuse, yet Khan is vilified for doing so.
If there’s a fighter in the UK that is hated more than Khan, I don’t know who they are because his name seems to be first and foremost when getting skewered by fans. It’s not right and I think British fans have become spoiled by Ricky Hatton and Calzaghe’s success and not remembered how long it took them to get to where they achieved anything.
Tags: 30 Responses to “Is Amir Khan the Most Hated Boxer In The UK?”
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Oh yeah, he’s WBA champ now by the way
I’ve just realised this whole thread is a big waste of time. Should have had something better to do, hey, ah well..
u will stop hatin on 28 june the day after khan becomes world chamion,maybe uks only after froch and hatton get destroyed
Race does not come into it. Khan should never have been put on PPV at such an early stage of his career. He has fought nobody of any statue and before you all jump up and and scream MAB. that fight should have been a no contest period!! Khan is a marmite fighter who has ducked all major opponents. and is doing so by fighting his next opponent saying there is noone in his current weight class worth fighting hahahaha. Yes i am a khan hatter and its not race related its the fact He bigs himself up all the time but dont back it up with worthy opponents. For all you racists lets leave race out of boxing and look at facts.
i hate khan he is a back stabing rasist he dus not even deserv to fight for awere country or were awere flag
Agreed, you add this to the reasons why he’s disliked… having celebrity status and PPV television deals without yet earning it. This is another reason why I dislike him as well.
amir khan is a good fighter hes only had one loss n everones hatein on him its not fair
Audley harrison was a tool aswel and James degale is also an idiot
In my first comment, i meant to say ‘I dont not like Khan because he is asian’, not i dont like Khan because he is Asian. His race is an irrelevance to me. Correction
good point james.
I guess we should just drop this debate now because its not getting anywhere, just seems to be getting people worked up.
I do also agree with tj when he said that he would much rather support prescott because of how he works hard for everything. I actually agree with that, prescott in my opinion is going to be one hell of a fighter and i will be backing his bid to become world champion in the lightweight division.
Muzza – If I misread your comment 13, I apologise. I’m not sure that’s the case though, or indeed that we’re on the same wavelength. We might have our wires crossed so I’ll try and rephrase it.
By saying “it is the people who play ‘the PC card’ who are likely to be racists themselves”, I meant that these people will say something racist and then when another person points this out, they’ll say something like “this country is so PC, you can’t say anything anymore”. In reality, it just the person who made the racist comment trying to disguise the fact they said it/not being able to accept what they said was racist.
I didn’t mean ‘The PC Brigade’ – the people who wish to change stuff like nursery rhymes. They’re not racist, just incredibly stupid and rather irritating.
I agree about the media. They are a disgrace and a law unto themselves. Look at the way they treated Hillsborough at the time. Unforgivable.
Rocky your a Joke! Everyone in Britain me included loved Hamed! If not for his Boxing and just for the show he put on!. The British public F??ing loved him. Shame he was exposed fighting Marco, but it was good while it lasted. Stop back tracking you were F??king wrong and stop Bashing the white comunity of Great Britain you F//king worm!!!!!!!!
Sorry James I noticed in your write up you came round to my way of thinking. Quote (In fact it is the people who play the pc card who are likely to be RACIST themselves they try to disguise their Racisim/ make it appear something else they are little or no better than Racist themselves) Muzza commet 13 read it son. Hey but I rekon your a cleaver guy and you Know your boxing. Hope logic?
i like amir khan
i just dont like hes f**king head!
Dont get me started on Audley Harrison! I dont like him for his Haircuts alone.
Audley Harrison anyone?
Oh here we go again. The RACE CARD. Yawnnnnnnnnnnn ZZZZZZZ zzzzzzz we’ve got a black American President please change the record now people.
Khan is not as well liked as Hatton because of the following simple explanation.
He was and is a multi millionaire celebrity before actually doing anything of real note in the boxing. He is a very marketable boxer within the UK.
The was no greater highlighted when he fought Prescott, who still shared a room above his boxing gym, Britain’s multi-millionaire boxing superstar was exposed and not just for the frailties of his chin.
Hopefully now he will now start to earn the status that was prematurely given to him.
Jason your full of cr*p. overated. Are you from america? I will mention one name and that is manfredo. what a load of bull.
well i hate all boxers from the uk there either overrated like a certain someone who has retired,or overhyped for doing absoulutly no one!!
You know what really gets to me is when people say ”why do people always pull out the race card?” shut the god damn hell up ok this is 100% because hes asian i have no doubt about it im not saying everyone who dislikes him is racist not at all. I myself am not a huge khan fan but i support him to the fullest because he is BRITISH yet majority of britain doesnt support him because he is ASIAN i dont care what any idiot says about ”oh stop talking bout race” This is about race. Hatton fought chumps for 35 fights! calzaghe fought chumps for the majority of his career untill lacy (apart from when he beat an old eubank) But when calzaghe beats an old eubank hes a great when khan beats an old barrera khans a fraud! Ricky Hatton beat an past his prime over the hill Kostya tszu and not one britain criticised hatton and call him a fraud. Face it Brtiain has prejedices and descriminates against Asians it pathetic.
One thing you have to remeber about Amir Kan is his past. In his own book he admitted there was an incident in which he and 2 over friends were arrested and charged with assault on females. You have also got to take into account the whole sage about him speeding and running into some guy. i think the above has somewhat tarnished the publics view of khan.
furthermore i believe the british public just dont lik to see winners. boxers like frank bruno who are average at best get the publics approval for valiant efforts in defeat, while Lennox lewis arguably one of the best heavyweights of all time is shunned. a similiar scenario with eubank. prior to his losses later in his career he was despisd and labelled arrogant. perhaps if amir khan was to lose his title shot but do so by losing bravely i believe the public would warm to him more.
he is not hated at all he is a popular celebrity in britain often on prime time telly. maybe he gets flak because he seems over-confident but i have always liked him yeah he has been knocked out but i think he will prove himself in the next few years and will fight the best and possibly become a multiple weight world champion bring on amir khan against ricky hatton at wembley in the future. Robert 19
I also like the way you point out the Americans call each other Americans and not put people into racial groups all the time. Ive long held the view if your British your British. I dont like the way we refer to people whos heritage oridginates from the indian sub continant as (asians) or British asians. You dont call a white person who was born in England to Scottish parents Scotish so why do this with Asians?. Its segregates people and racial groups.
Yeah Samir I agree with you in part when you say the British people for some strange reason dont get behind their winning athletes in the same way other countrys do. We also seem to have a liking for losers and underdogs. As for Prince Naseem Hamed he went well over the top with all the religion thing before the fight with Barrera. Say he wanted green goat skin gloves so everytime he hit Barrera he was gonna taste islam and all that crap!. To me theres no call to bring your Religion into the ring whatever your Religion it may be. Same as all the Racist views should not come into the ring to. All that should come into the ring is two men who have the courage to stand up and be counted win or lose like the warriors they are. Any man who gets in the ring regardless of race colour or creed should be viewed as I man of guts and we should respect them. Anyone who does not respect them should take a trip to their local boxing club get in the ring with some spotty baby faced kid and get humbled very quickly.
BTW: Did anyone see the post fight interview with barrera?
Did anyone listen to what barrera was saying?
1. The ref should have stopped the fight in the first round
2. He was blinded in one eye
3. Khans punches were not hurting him
If you go to see one of his fights live, you will witness thousands of people of different races who like Amir.
He is extemely likeable and has guts to move up and fight for a title against a very good fighter.
To add to my rant. To say the British boxing public have not took to Khan because of his race is like saying the British public is somewhat Racist. THIS IS NOT THE CASE AND IS INSULTING TO ME AS I AM BRITISH AND TO THE PEOPLE BRITAIN.
i really hope it aint a race issue, personally i dont think it is, well not in london anyway, cant speak for other parts of the country but in London i think he is pretty popular with all races and most people who watch boxing want to see him do well. Naseem Hamed was well liked in the UK regardless of his race….i think if people have got something against khan its more about the moneys he has earnt without actually fighting anyone half decent. i think thats also the reson audly took lots of critisism, he got paid a million just to fight nobody’s it all adds pressure to fighters who in effect learning the game.
I for one certainly dont dislike Khan for his race and im sure its not the case with a lot of the other comments people have entered.
Prince Naseem Hamed would come under that word buncey used yet i feel that Naz deserved all oppurtunities that he got, from a young age he was ripping through domestic and european opposition and despite him being big-headed he was incredible and lived up to his words except when he fought a PRIME Barrera.
The problem Khan has had is up against weak domestic opposition like Willie Limmond he has really struggled whereas Calzaghe, Bruno, Benn Eubank Naz etc were knocking down there sort like skittles (and there was a healthier opposition back then). Just remember that Khan said he would be retired by 25 after leaving a legacy in his early days, he still hasnt fought the best of the British although i think he would beat Murray, but he must have doubts about Thaxton because they were Mandatories for eachothers belts (brit/commonw) at one time yet Khan pulled out of the purse bids, as stated on ‘bunceys boxing hour’