Amir Khan - Ring Leader

When it comes to giving back, boxer Amir Khan punches way above his weight. Caitlin Mackesy Davies spoke to Bolton’s very own golden boy.

WBA lightwelterweight champion Amir Khan jetted off to the United States in March, many pundits pondered whether they’d be seeing the ‘Pride of Bolton’ in the UK again for any length of time. Among those who will feel his absence, however long it lasts, are those involved in the UK’s voluntary and community sector, for whom Khan has proved an unflagging supporter since he returned, at 17, with a Silver medal in boxing from the 2004 Athens Olympics.

On the national scene, Khan is an NSPCC Ambassador, supports Great Ormond Street Hospital, has worked with The National Literacy Trust, and on Network Rail’s No Messin’ safety initiative. Closer to home, he has supported projects for the Bolton Lads & Girls Club – where he cut his boxing teeth as a young boy – and where he recently hosted a ‘Battle of the Badges’ boxing tournament for Bolton’s police and firefighters, raising nearly £20,000 for local charities.

He’s done so much, in fact, that I felt I first had to ask if it ever gets to be a chore.Does he enjoy being so much in demand, or should people leave him alone for a bit? ‘I like doing stuff outside the boxing ring,’ was his response. ‘When I’m boxing I need to be focused, but when I have free time I get to work with all these charities, and it makes me happy to help out.’

In fact, it’s Khan’s team, including his father, Shah, that has the unpleasant job of turning down requests for appearances and sponsorship, but Khan is keen to point out that if he can’t lend a hand, ‘it won’t be because I can’t be bothered, but because I just have something else on.’

For Khan, having something else on could include defending his most recent belt – as he will next month against PaulieMalignaggi at Madison Square Garden – and the gruelling training that will involve, now mainly undertaken at the Wild Card Gym in LA. But it could be spending time at the Gloves Community Centre, which has just celebrated two years of providing sport and learning facilities in Bolton.

Khan has so far put £700k of his own funds into the centre, which charges a small £1 admission fee and welcomes some 400 children a week. All they need to get started, Khan says, is a towel. Everything else is supplied: ‘the skipping ropes, the equipment, they can even get a bottle of water at the gym. There are showers, a steam room, a sauna… it’s about helping the kids to enjoy sport.

Room for respect

Khan says that when he’s at home he trains at the centre twice a week, and often walks through the gym to surprise the kids who are using it. He likes to spar with the kids, which gives them a thrill. It also begins the process of communication: ‘I let them beat me up, and they get such a buzz off of that. And then we build that respect, that relationship.’ It’s a relationship that allows them to speak freely with him, and for him to help motivate them to achieve at school and elsewhere in their lives.

‘If I tell them something,’ he explains, ‘they take it in. If it was a schoolteacher talking, they’d only pay attention to the first 10 minutes, but if I talk to them they listen to every minute of what I say. When you have a big name, someone you look up to, come over and take part in what you are doing, it gives you motivation. I want to give them that motivation, that confidence, and having me pushing them helps.

‘They need someone to listen to them as well,’ he says. ‘Now when I walk into the gym they come over and say, “Amir, what do you think of this, what do you think of that?” They talk to me like a friend. On top of that, they have respect. If I tell them to do something differently, they do it.’

Recalling his own childhood behaviour, he admits he was a little ‘hyperactive, a naughty kid’, and credits an early introduction to boxing with harnessingthat energy in what became a phenomenally successful way. He hopes to pass on the joy, and discipline, of sport to the kids at the gym, and it seems to be having an impact.

‘Parents tell me, “My kid is really listening to me now; he’s behaving at school,” and it’s all to do with boxing. It gives you discipline and a sense of responsibility. It also teaches you to stand on your own feet and be your own man. When you train you are on your own, so it’s about making up your own mind about what you do and don’t want to do, and using your own judgement.’

Visible influence

Khan believes his visibility as a local achiever is also having an effect on adults in his community, who he feels can now recognise the long-term prospects sport can provide for their children. He serves as ‘a wake-up call’, he says, particularly for Asian families.

‘Now I can see Asian families supporting their kids more in sport, and in the next five years you’ll see a big change in sport for the Asian community. Children will say, “We can achieve what Amir has achieved,” and they’ll work hard towards it.’

Khan is pleased that he provides a role model for the Asian community, but he is also proud that his achievements in the ring inspire children from every background. ‘It’s interesting being looked up to by kids,’ he says. ‘It’s a motivation for me, and it pushes me to go out and achieve more.’

While its focus is firmly on the kids, the centre is also a place where Khan is learning the ropes of social enterprise and, he admits, ‘it’s tough, it’s not an easy project,’ particularly when it comes to funding. ‘I’ve been helping out and we get a lot of support, but we could still use a lot more. We’re managing OK at the moment, and I hope we’ll keep on managing.’

Does he have ambitions for more centres? ‘I’d love to have a couple of gyms or community centres, but it takes time to build up,’ is his cautious reply. ‘I’m learning with this one and I want to make sure it runs properly so that if I open a second one I won’t make the same mistakes.’

And, at its heart, he sees the centre as meeting a specific local need, and his need to give back to the neighbourhood he still calls home. ‘I could have opened a gym anywhere, but I wanted to do something in Bolton. It’s in a deprived area and there were a lot of kids on the street, throwing stones and getting into trouble with the police. Now there’s a place they can come in and keep fit, there’s a homework club and they can surf the internet. It’s all about keeping them off the streets.’

If he’s having an impact, it will be appreciated by his neighbours as well as thelocal government. According to Bolton Vision, 64 per cent of residents believe that young people hanging around is a big problem. The city has tasked itself to reduce this to 50 per cent by 2017. Also on the Vision agenda is an increase in physical activity and sport participation and an increase in educational attainment – all goals that the centre can support.

Does Khan foresee a time when he’d give more direct support to local government? For example, would he ever consider running for elected office once he’s achieved his goals in the ring? At present, his answer is a firm no. ‘I’ll stick to my boxing, and then I’d like a quiet life,’ he replies with a laugh.

Vocal support

But from the outside, he’ll continue to push for investment in sport for young people. ‘If they want to be footballers, we need football clubs for them. If they want to become boxers, we need gyms for them. We need to support them in what they want to do.’

It’s an investment that, he believes, will pay off in future glory for Great Britain. If support is given to children with sporting ambition, he says, ‘we’ll get a lot more gold medals in the Olympic Games, and a lot more medals in more tournaments – that’s where the results will show.’

Khan says the voluntary sector, too, needs to follow his lead if it wants to engage the next generation of leaders. ‘If you want to help young people, ask the young people what they need. Go to schools and assemblies and speak to them. Get their views, get involved with them. Young people know what they want to do in life and we need to support them.’

Talking point: Reflections on race

Though some comments that have appeared in the press portray Khan as seeming to blame racism for limiting his progress in the UK, there’s certainly no sign of that sentiment during our chat.

‘A lot of people tell me that they think it’s going to be tough to achieve something because they are Asian,’ he explains. ‘I say that’s not true because if you want to achieve something in life and you work hard towards it, you are going to achieve it.’

This positive attitude, he says, reflects an upbringing during which he mixed with people from all backgrounds. And also the friendships he has formed through sport, particularly when he lived and trained with the British Olympic team.

‘I think sport brings that [tolerance] with it; it’s part of being a team. When you are in the boxing ring you are alone, but outside we train and we are a team. I’ve never experienced racism or anything that way. I’ve been lucky.’