Amir Khan revealed details of a sickening injury and said Floyd Mayweather tried to persuade him not to retire from boxing.
The Bolton man hung up his gloves after a lengthy career following a stoppage loss to Kell Brook. Khan now says he had a severe injury for the loss.
“I tore my rotator cuff, my tendon split in half in my right arm, it’s still sore now, and I can’t lift it up much,’ Khan told The Daily Mail. “But I didn’t want to tell people because I didn’t want people to say, “Amir is making excuses.”
“My knees were hurting in training camp. I was still pushing myself hard, and then that’s when it hit me. “Do you know what? I don’t have it left in me.
“I’m not as good as I used to be. I had to be honest with myself and call it a day.”
On possibly pulling out of the Brook fight, Khan added: ‘“I’m going to go ahead with it. But deep down in my mind, I wasn’t mentally prepared. I’d trained hard, but I didn’t have it in me. I was already done.
“With these injuries, if I was asked to get in a ring, I would be like, “Hell no,”’ he said. ‘I don’t even want to train. I’ve got a beautiful family, kids, and enough money, so let’s sit back and relax.”
Nice to see @FloydMayweather in dubai. #Dubai pic.twitter.com/MpSSbhNm6o
— Amir Khan (@amirkingkhan) May 12, 2022
FLOYD MAYWEATHER
Khan also outlined an offer to fight Floyd Mayweather when the pair met up in Dubai.
“Floyd said to me, ‘Look, we should get it on.’ And I said ‘Brother, tomorrow I’m going to announce my retirement,” according to UK media reports.
“And he goes, ‘No, I don’t think you should.”
“Obviously, pro fighters say to you all your life, ‘we should fight each other, and they keep you on the side, on the bench. I’m like, forget that man. I want to be in control of myself.”
On missing out on facing Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in the mid-2010s, Khan concluded: “When I call it a day, I call it a day. I don’t do it because someone else is taking control, like Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao saying now we’ll fight you.
“Waiting around and waiting around for them, so I thought no man, I’ll do what’s best for me.”
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