Amir Khan reveals wife Faryal Makhdoom chose trainer and team for his Kell Brook grudge match
AMIR KHAN’S stunning wife sent him packing for the most important training camp of his career.
Bolton ace Khan, 35, finally faces Kell Brook on Saturday night in Manchester, the culmination of a vicious 20-year rivalry.
The Athens 2004 silver medal winner’s last meaningful fight was the 2019 loss to welterweight world champ Terence Crawford — who bullied him both in and out of the ring.
But Khan moved out to his old enemy’s Colorado and Nebraska camp for weeks of gruelling training and sparring after wife Faryal handpicked his new team — headed now by giant Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre — without even telling him.
Khan revealed: “My wife was the one who made the phone call to arrange it all.
“I was in Dubai, I was on holiday, and she told me to get back to the UK to pack my bags for training camp.
“I was like, ‘Why am I going to a training camp?’
“She told me I was going to train with Brian McIntyre and Terence Crawford. Initially I didn’t want to because of what had been said around our fight.
“But she told me just to trust her — and that it would be good for me.
“Faryal said to try them — I initially said no because of all the s*** that was said — but she made the calls and before you know it, I was off.”
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Sadly for the mother of Khan’s three children, she still won’t be getting a direct cut of his giant pension purse.
He laughed: “She is not getting paid for her help!
“When I first said to her I wanted the Kell Brook fight, she asked me if I was sure — and said she would only let me do it if I trained really hard and took it seriously.
“She would speak to BoMac and ask about my sparring and training. When she knew I was training hard, she came around to the idea.”
Khan was the only Team GB boxer to qualify for the Greece games — and helped change the face and funding of amateur boxing in the UK.
The proud British-Pakistani then went on to become a household name, world champ, TV star and national treasure.
But he admits all of that could now be tainted if he is mainly remembered for losing to the 35-year-old enemy he has always considered an understudy.
Khan added: “You’re always one fight away from destroying your whole legacy.
“This could end up with me losing everything that I’ve done in my whole career.
“People will be like, ‘Oh, he got beaten by Kell Brook,’ so I have to do everything right.
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“That’s why I was running up hills, I was working so hard. I don’t want to lose to him. I don’t like the guy.”
Khan and Brook’s Thursday press conference started well but turned into a grubby slanging match, with both men dragging up rumours and innuendos about the other’s private life.
Khan even suggested Brook had been racist for saying he has a “poppadom chin”.
But Brook insists it was just an insult about his KO losses — and not his family heritage.
But if Mrs Khan has her way, this will still be the last time we see Khan in action.
He explained: “She wants her husband back. But I keep telling her, ‘One more’.
“I want to see how I feel and look when I get past this fight — because if I perform the way I think I will, then I would want one or two more.
“There are a few losses I want to avenge.
“Common sense tells me both the winner and loser will say, ‘You know what? I’ve had a great time, I’m done’.
Johnny Nelson
“Being away from the family and kids is really hard. When I put my head down, I forget about having kids, I forget about having a wife, I am so focused.”
But ex-cruiserweight champ Johnny Nelson is hoping the pair will see sense and protect their legacies by calling it a day.
He said: “They will just become the stepping stones for the youngsters coming through.
“Common sense tells me that both the winner and loser will say, ‘You know what? I’ve had a great time, I’m done’.
“It’ll be a hard slog for the loser and they might say, ‘That’s not the end of me,’ depending on the fashion of the loss.
“But I hope, unless they’re fighting each other again, that the winner and the loser say, ‘I’ve had a great time. Britain, thank you’.
“As an ex-fighter myself, would I have wanted to carry on after being beaten by my big domestic rival? No, I wouldn’t.
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“Because where’s my ambition? It tells you that I’m just going in there for money. This is big-money for both fighters — but also pride.
“The loser will just end up being a stepping stone for the young bucks.
“Both these fighters have got too much pride for that.”