Amir Khan says he is a new man with wife Faryal Makhdoom after getting rid of the leeches draining his £30million fight fortune
AMIR KHAN has finally taken control of his life — after letting his friends and family cash in on his generous nature for too long.
The welterweight contender, who says he “has done his bit as a son now”, remains brutal in the boxing ring.
But the former WBA and IBF world light-welterweight champion reluctantly concludes that, away from the gym, he has been too soft for his own good.
Khan, 30, cannot even begin to estimate how much of his £30million career earnings have enriched the people who were supposed to be looking after his interests.
And it is only now, two months after the bitter split from his former backroom team, that he is getting to grips with his situation — having cut ties with father Shah, uncle Taz Khan and lifelong friend Saj Mohamed.
Matters came to a head after his fateful decision to step up two divisions to middleweight resulted in a sixth-round knockout defeat by Canelo Alvarez last May.
Khan believes that was when his support team decided the gravy train was about to hit the buffers.
As we chatted in his San Francisco gym, Khan admitted: “The way they left me wasn’t nice.
What really upset me was that they had been my team throughout my career but after Canelo they thought, ‘He’s had his big fight and now he’s done.’
“They thought it was their best chance to cash out so they all asked for a big redundancy cheque and they left.
“Now there is talk of me fighting Manny Pacquiao and they’re crawling back and saying, ‘Oh Amir, I’m here if you need me’.
“But it’s the end of an era where we all had good times and we all made a lot of money.
“I’m the boss of everything now, I’m the one making the decisions.”
Khan is from a traditional Muslim family and it is his marriage to Faryal that lies at the heart of the bitter feud.
And Khan is still suffering the repercussions.
Dad, uncle and mate Saj were all cut loose by Khan, who is now happily located in the USA with Faryal and daughter Lamaisah.
He added: “I’m just too nice. My heart is too good. I’ve been the best son, the best brother, the best family member anyone could have been.
“I’ve done more for my family than anyone would do. I bought my mum and dad a nice house.
“But I’ve done my bit as a son and now I want to be myself.
“Maybe they were dedicated to me because of the big fights and the big money.
“My brother, Haroon, is a boxer but he’s not making anywhere near the money I make and I don’t see many around him.
“The poor guy goes to the gym alone. I still speak to my brother if he replies to my calls and I get random emails off some family members saying, ‘You need to do this’.
“The wind blew some tiles off my house in Bolton the other day and I got an email from my sister saying, ‘If you want it fixing, here’s a number for a guy to do it’.
“She could have phoned or texted me. She could have been a bit nicer.
“I told my best friend, Saj, I wanted him to stay on to manage everything even after my career was over and he said ‘No’ because he thought I was done.
“That was a big slap in the face because I was always there for him.
“But when it was my turn to need help, the people who should have been there for me weren’t.”
The reality of his situation finally hit home the other week when he started to receive the bills his former advisers used to handle.
He revealed: “The way they left everything wasn’t good. They just walked away and said, ‘You sort it out’. I needed the cooker fixing but didn’t know what to do.
“I’d never made a bank payment in my life. I usually bring the money in and everything gets done for me.
“So I was shocked when some of those bills arrived.
“The other week I got a demand for £8,000 for an email server in an office in Bolton. I’m a fighter.
“I don’t need an office. My office is the gym. Why would I need a server when I don’t even look at my emails?
“I’m the only person going into the ring but I’m still paying God knows what for stuff that I don’t even need.
“There’s a lot of money which went places I’m not happy about and that I probably don’t even own.
“I had property advisers and accountants who ripped me off. If I told you everything, you’d cry. When money starts coming in, it changes a lot of people.
“But it’s when it stops coming that you see their true colours. I thought I could focus on my boxing and leave the other stuff to people that I trusted. But it wasn’t like that.
“I’m currently building a banqueting hall in Bolton. It should have cost me £5m but it’s probably going to end up at £6m.
“The main contractor was a friend of my dad’s and he made a big f***- up. So I had to get rid of him.
“People around me should have been looking after my interests but they were just saying, ‘The money is coming in, keep spending it’.
“It’s been a real wake-up call but I’m glad I’ve had it. Seeing money going out so easily was one of the reasons I put my foot down.
“Floyd Mayweather looks after every dollar . . . and he’s ten times richer than me. My old team will think I made the worst choice letting them go and say, ‘Watch his career go down the drain’. I’m not going to let that happen.
“I’m looking forward to proving them wrong . . . ”