King Khan and Agent Frank: As portrayed or a disaster delayed?
By Jordan Stoddart - January 2010 was hardly a hotbed of Boxing News or entertainment. With the exception of the never ending growth hormone issue involving the self proclaimed Greatest, and the much acclaimed Greatest, the new year was still reeling from the negatives of last years deaths and murders in the sport, but still progressing slowly from the great wins from the likes of Malignaggi, Mosley and Valero, and the fresh injection into the sport on all levels from the likes of mainstream magnet Manny Pacquiao, young bloods in Berto, Brook and Manuel Lopez, and the arrival of WBA Kings David Haye and Amir Khan. The latter being the exception to January’s downturn in meaningful news, no disrespect to any fighters or promotes involved.
Amir Khan is an A list Celebrity in the United Kingdom, for whatever it is worth these days. Known for his tremendous showing at the Athens Olympics back in 2004, where Khan won a silver medal, only narrowly losing to the Cuban legend Mario Kindelán in the final. Were it not for a third meeting between the two in 2005 where Khan won by points of 19-13 in front of large hometown crowd, Kindelán would have been his only conqueror, after 2 successful victories for the outstanding amateur, one of which was a warm up fight for his Olympics’ campaign. Here is the fighters pre-professional career in a nutshell, to clarify; finishing with a record of 100-2. Shunning his original decision to represent the UK again in the 2008 Olympics, renowned promoter Frank Warren signed Amir Khan for a multimillion pound sum, declaring that he would make the young sensation a world champion buy 21 years of age. He was close..
We can sit here all day and wax lyrical about Khan’s erratic, confusing and much talked about professional career, but it has garnered enough press coverage to make even the most non-interested fan of Boxing, aware of his brutal 54 second KO to Breidis Prescott, his cool and well thought out victories over Marco Antonio Barrera and Andreas Kotelnik, and of course his superb 76 second KO over strong and worthy contender Dmitry Salita. Fact of the matter is. Amir Khan now stands on a different level on the Boxing World, regardless of his alphabet strap, or his A-List sparring Partners and trainer, he is about to immerse himself in the American Boxing market, much like his predecessors Naseem Hamed, Chris Eubank and Ricky Hatton, albeit with a different level of weight on his shoulders.
If you did not notice already, King Khan has completed his journey from fighting in small arenas, beating tested but unskilled journeymen, to the pinnacle of any Boxers dreams; a stab at the elite, a ruler of his weigh class, the pound for the pound brigade and the status that comes with it. ‘The Champ’ as Mike Tyson so greatly puts it in James Toback’s brilliant documentary about the ‘Baddest man on the planet’, the one fighter who could walk off the plane at any airport worldwide, and be cheered to the rafters, even with controversy circulating around him like vultures circle garbage filled ferries. That is what this young buck wants form his career right? Before we digress, make note than Khan has quite clearly stated to both UK and International press sources that he would be leaving Great Britain because of narrow minded views from the paying public, ignorant ‘haters’ and journalists, constant condescending tabloid articles, and a smattering of alleged racism, a la Audley Harrison (One time British Olympic medallist, signed multimillion pound deals with Frank warren and the BBC, failed to make the grade at pro level, moved to the US because of alleged integrated establishment racism; ring a bell?), he is leaving because he loves that feeling of walking around Vegas without being noticed, even though Snoop Dog (Poor rapper, loves firearms and Cannabis) lives upstairs and thinks the ‘champ’ is funny and great. How queer? About as queer, ignorant and hypocritical as moving to a massive US based promotional team, who will be pitting this fine athlete against dangerous KO artist Marcos Maidina (27-1), who owns a hard-fought percentage of 92% canvas tasters, one of which was former Goldenboy Prodigy Victor Ortiz.
Ortiz had the world at his feet when he signed for Oscar de La Hoya’s outfit back in 2008, much like his new stable-mate Khan. As GBP left it on their fighters profile page as the year closed ‘the sky’s the limit’. It did not work to great for the self styled southpaw fighting out of Garden City, Kansas. An avalanche of criticism followed his TKO (round 6) defeat to the much feared Maidina, some even alleged he had quit, but then again a lot had been made of a post fight chat with our good friend Max kellerman. Make what you will out of that fight. What did happen that day was poor match making, a fighter being pushed too far, and another example of how a great fighter’s record and career can be sacrificed for the love of the dollar. Say Khan and his new team decide to fight Juan Marquez or Ricky Hatton later this year. Say JMM is not shot and schools Khan to point he never recovers physiologically, or say Hatton racks up good Light welter wins, gets back on track and finds Khans’ ego at just the right time to pop. Neither of these scenarios is out of the question. All of the above Boxers fight, or have side contracts, with Goldenboy’s monopoly, and all have had their names mentioned alongside Amir’s name to many times not to be made a coincidence.
The aftermath of Amir Khan’s departure to the states has left a bitter taste in former promoter Frank Warren’s mount. “I do not mind admitting I was gutted at the way Amir and his team bought our partnership to an end after five years and 25 fights together. These days it seems loyalty is a quality bestowed in very few sportsmen.” True indeed Frank, but promoters are as guilty as the Pawn’s they possess. “I am also offended they say Golden Boy Promotions can do a better job in guiding his career.” Maybe so, but it is a double edged sword. How far could Khan of gone under Frank? Let’s look at the careers of a few other ex–employees. Ricky Hatton. Hatton was with Warren’s outfit until his fine win over Kostya Tszyu, then decided to up sticks to the US and take on a good batch of opponents, before his eventual defeat to Floyd Mayweather. Naseem Hamed and Joe Calzaghe similarly pursued their own promotional interests towards the end of their careers, even though the latter was arguably Britain’s greatest ever export (or import, depending if you thought Calzaghe was protected at home) and the former was the UKS youngest ever world champion. Warren usually delivers what he promises. But is it enough?
Warren, although well known and a big player in Europe, hardly possesses the power in the US as Don King, Richard, Schafer and Lou DiBella do, but maybe this was Frank’s time to deliver and make up for past mistakes. He is responsible for possibly the greatest bit of matchmaking ever made in Khans 4 post Prescott fights, and do not forget the fact a fight with Maidina had been pre-signed and arranged with massive sums discussed, before Khan left the UKI permanently. But if you get to the core of this merry-go-round, then question why on earth did Warren put Kahn in with Prescott in the first place, and why did he employ Jorge Rubio on someone else’s recommendation?
Warren digresses in his weekly newspaper column; “It does make you wonder. I suppose people will point to that upset against Prescott and point the finger. But the Khan’s picked a trainer recommended by David Haye and Adam Booth, who was unheard of, not to mention an opponent I was unhappy with. Against my better judgement, THEY insisted on the fight.” Is he serious? That is a shocking admission, and one that makes the fan ponder, ‘What was going on with their relationship before the defeat?’ A fine line of communication and respect between a fighter and his promoter is paramount, if a friend of the fighter picks the trainer, and the opponents, then you have to question if the partnership should have been terminated sooner, especially when you read another of Franks clangers from the weekends papers, “I haven’t spoken to him since the fight in Newcastle (50 days ago). After that, he said to SKY, ‘Me and Frank are going to America’, and that’s the last conversation we had. He’s a super kid, and he’s great for the game.” Enough said.
Khan needed Warren as much as Warren needed Khan; that’s about as much of a decent analysis you will get out of this topical subject. Boxing’s worst kept secret is now confirmed, and Khan will go and fight either Maidina or Malignaggi in Vega, hopefully in April/May. What becomes of the likely lad, we do not know, but lets hope it is a sound decision, as one cannot help but feel confused at the motives of Khan, and whether or not Warren had, or was going to deliver what he promised. World Champion at 22, possibly unified champion by the end of 2010, a megastar worldwide, with multi-cultural appeal? I would not bet on any of the latter points to be honest, as I suspect that there are rocky times ahead for the Pride of Bolton, England. Someone who does not contact the man who made them the star he is today, or who stood by him the way he did when he was viciously KO’ed by the Colombian nightmare, usually has one thing on their mind. Money, which equals greed, and will eventually detract power. But never forget that Khan was a product of Warrens and the UK’s insistence of an Asian Boxing Superstar, and who was pitched to early, and was let down by the man and the men above, so maybe he just deserve this break.
