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AMIR KHAN: "I'VE BEEN WORKING ON A COUPLE OF NEW THINGS...YOU'LL SEE A DIFFERENT AMIR"

By Ben Thompson | March 29, 2012
AMIR KHAN:

"I've been working on a couple of new things and just watching videos and going through things, thinking how would it work for me. It's going to be like a 10-week training camp for me, which is perfect...I'm one of them fighters that learn from my mistakes and I come back stronger. Maybe I needed this just to kind of, you know, in a way just push myself a little bit more and refocus on the little things, because when you always win and win and win, you never look at the bad things. Since the last fight, I've been looking at every little thing, and just even 1% will make a massive difference in Amir Khan. I can honestly say in this next fight coming up, I mean, we'll be totally different and we'll be ready. You'll see a different Amir Khan. Lamont Peterson didn't fight the best Amir Khan that day, but he will fight the best coming up on May 19...People can say all they want, you know? I'm just happy I got the fight," stated former jr. welterweight champion Amir Khan, who gave us an update from the Philippines on how his training is going as he prepares for the May 19th rematch with Lamont Peterson. Check out what he had to say about the fight and much more!

BT: What's going on with you, bro?

AK: Alright, man; just chillin'. We just had something to eat and we're just killing some time, bro. It gets a little bit boring over here so you have to kind of do little things just to pass time.

BT: Whenever they show the Philippines on 24/7, they always make it look like there's not much to do over there, but Alex was telling me you guys are staying at some spot that's near like 5 malls. What do you guys do over there during your dead time?

AK: You know, it's not too bad because where we stay, there's a mall in front and stuff, so we take a walk there. Other than that, we just chill in the water and just rest up. I mean, there's no distractions or anything here. Here, it's just about focusing and just training and training. We're in Manila at the moment, but when we go to Baguiao, Baguiao there's like hardly anything there. I mean, it's so quiet and everything. That does get boring, but maybe a fighter needs that, you know? He needs to be isolated so he can focus on the job and stuff. But overall, it's not a bad place. We do find things to do and we do get time to work on what we need to work on and stuff. It's normally in the evenings if we do go anywhere, for a walk or anything, because after training, I'm kind of free for a couple of hours.

BT: This is like your third time over there. Obviously you have to go wherever Freddie goes, but does that make it difficult for you? Are there times where you'd rather train someplace else as opposed to going to wherever Freddie's at?

AK: You know, I mean, I love training in LA because we got all the facilities and everything there, but the thing is with coming here, I mean, I have to follow Freddie and Freddie has to follow Manny Pacquiao. He's his number one priority fighter, I'm the number two, and it goes on from the other fighters. Well, the thing is, I have to follow Freddie. Freddie wants to come here. I don't mind traveling, I've done it before, but if I had to pick, I'd stay in LA and train there. You know, we've got the hills there, we've got the steps there, we've got the pool and everything there, and I'm used to everything over there. And also we got good sparring partners over there, so I think, if it was up to me, I'd train over there.

BT: You started a little bit earlier than normal for this fight, right?

AK: Well, yeah, a little bit. I trained a little bit in the UK at my own gym just to kind of get the cobwebs out. You know, I've been working on a couple of new things and just watching videos and going through things, thinking how would it work for me. It's going to be like a 10-week training camp for me, which is perfect. I mean, I make weight quite easy anyway and I burn the fat quick, so within 2 to 3 weeks, I'll be back where I want to be; fit and strong and ready.

BT: I know you're not looking past Peterson, but how much longer do you think you'll stay at 140? Are you definitely planning on moving up to 147 regardless of the outcome of this fight?

AK: Very soon; very soon we'll be moving up. I mean, hopefully get this fight out of the way and become the IBF and WBA champion, and then maybe fight against someone like Garcia. He just won the WBC off of Morales. Maybe that would be a good fight for me and I can win all three titles. That would probably be my last fight at 140. But, I mean, I'll eventually move up to 147 and maybe knock out someone like Kell Brooks. I don't know (laughing).

BT: Obviously there was some controversy in your first fight with Lamont Peterson. At the end of the day, he won a split decision that basically came down to a 1 point swing in his favor. Does the fact that he needed a lot of things to go his way in order to get the win make you confident about performing even better in the rematch?

AK: Yeah! I'm not taking nothing away from him. He put on a great fight the first time and, you know, maybe we weren't as focused as we should've been going into the fight and thought it was going to be a lot easier than it was. I mean, I think everybody had me as the favorite and everything. I said I believe I did enough to win the fight, but like you said, maybe he needed that fight to be where he was from, and he needed the support and everything, and still, it was a split decision. Well, I know now in Vegas, it's going to be a fair fight. I fought in Vegas twice before, so it's a place that I'm kind of used to. Last time Peterson fought there was against [Victor] Ortiz when he got beat. I think everything's hopefully fair over there; that's what we want. The few mistakes that we made in the fight that we should've done, and the few things we did wrong in a camp, you know, I'm one of them fighters that learn from my mistakes and I come back stronger. Maybe I needed this just to kind of, you know, in a way just push myself a little bit more and refocus on the little things, because when you always win and win and win, you never look at the bad things. Since the last fight, I've been looking at every little thing, and just even 1% will make a massive difference in Amir Khan. I can honestly say in this next fight coming up, I mean, we'll be totally different and we'll be ready. You'll see a different Amir Khan. Lamont Peterson didn't fight the best Amir Khan that day, but he will fight the best coming up on May 19.

BT: I think the controvery with last weekend's DQ in the Kirkland/Molina bout gave us a perfect example as to why any fighter might be concerned about a fight taking place anywhere other than Las Vegas.

AK: Yeah, definitely. Vegas is the mecca of boxing if you think about it. They've had all the big fights there and you do get treated fairly. All of these other places, like Washington and, like you just mentioned, the other place [Texas], you know, the commissions, they're for themselves. They want to keep their home fighter with a title.

BT: Is it frustrating to hear people say that you were bitching and moaning about what happened in the last fight, and that you're just crying over spilled milk?

AK: I mean, the reason I had to is because he would not want to fight me. I had to cause a big fuss. He did say he'd fight me straight after the fight when he was being interviewed at the press conference, but when we were negotiating, he didn't want anything to do with me. He would look at other opponents, like Marquez, so I had to put things straight and I had to push for the fight. I mean, I wasn't bitching about the fight. I was pushing for the fight to happen. It just shows that when you do really want to fight someone and you push it and you don't stop giving up, then you can always get that fight. I've just proven that to everyone. He could have fought anyone else and had an easier fight, but he's back in the ring with me, so I forced that fight to happen. People can say all they want, you know? I'm just happy I got the fight.

BT: You probably get more flack about it simply because you're the bigger name and you were the favorite going into the fight. If the shoe was on the other foot and it was Peterson who lost the split decision because of the point deductions and whatnot, people would have had no problem with him saying or doing everything in his power to force the rematch, you know?

AK: I mean, we went there and we fought him in his home state. We didn't have to go there, but it shows what type of character I have. It shows what type of fighter I am. I'm not afraid of being put in the ring with anyone. They told me to fight Maidana and I fought him. Then I went and fought Judah for the IBF. Then it was mandatory to fight Lamont Peterson and I went to his home state to fight him. And at such a young age, you know, I've come to America to fight when I could go back to England, fight there, and I could make a lot of money fighting in England on pay-per-view and stuff. I've done things the proper way. I mean, not many fighters do what I do. I've fought everyone. Hopefully I get this guy, Lamont Peterson, out of the way and I've conquered the 140 division. I offered Bradley the fight and he didn't want to fight me. Devon Alexander, he didn't want to fight me. So many fighters just keep avoiding me. Same thing with Matthysse and them guys as well. Whenever I'm offering these guys fights, nobody wants to fight Amir Khan. I mean, Lamont Peterson maybe knew that if he had brought the fight to Washington, he would have a better chance to win the fight. Still, it was only one point he won by, you know, and there were a lot of questions. Like I said, we'll come back stronger from this and all the doubters out there just need to realize that if you look at my resume of names I've fought, I've not backed away from anyone. As soon as I moved up to 140 pounds, my first fight at 140 pounds was a world title fight, and I defended it and I've fought all my mandatories. I've never given up a title. I've held the two titles and the third, I wanted to do a unification with Bradley, but he didn't want to fight me, so I'm not the one who doesn't want to fight these guys. I want to fight anyone and everyone.

BT: I think you made that pretty clear when you were willing to give guys a 50/50 share in your UK profits just to make the fights. Truth be told, you didn't even have to do that.

AK: No, we didn't have to, you know? I could have gone my own way and fought anyone else and made a lot of money. Like you said, I'm the star in the division and HBO is backing me. I just made a new deal with HBO. HBo didn't want Lamont Peterson, otherwise they would've knocked on his door. They want Amir Khan. I mean, it's also the people, the support I have. That's one of the reasons that we got this fight and maybe that's why we are the star of the 140-pound division.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: For more updates from Amir Khan as he trains for his upcoming rematch, be sure to follow him on Twitter at @AmirKingKhan]



[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]

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