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Home » Amir Khan pays tribute to tragic ex-opponent Alexis Vastine

Amir Khan pays tribute to tragic ex-opponent Alexis Vastine

Khan, who at 28 is the same age as the tragic Vastine, defeated the two-time Olympian at the 2004 junior World Championships on his way to claiming a gold medal. The Briton then went on to win an Olympic silver medal before rising to become a professional world title holder and a superstar in his own right.

The one-time king of the super lightweight division took to his social media accounts when hearing of the passing of Vastine and described fighting the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist as ‘a pleasure’ in his post on Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m very sad to hear of the passing of Alexis Vastine. I had the pleasure of competing against him in the amateurs and would like to send my deepest condolences to all his family and friends during this difficult time,” said Khan.

Vastine made it to the quarter-finals of the London 2012 games before bowing out in controversial fashion and protested his loss in the ring after the bout. Ukrainian Taras Shelestyuk was granted a debated countback victory over Vastine who was visibly in tears in the wake of the contest.

Investigators in Los Rioja, where the fatal crash took place on location shooting for French reality show ‘Dropped,’ are still piecing together the events that left ten people dead and a whole country in mourning at the loss of three well-known sports personalities.

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