Has Racism Chased Amir Khan Out Of Britain?

[CasperUK]

Not sure what to make off that article, Khans fights always packed out arena over here and his tv numbers were always very good on ITV.

Khan has been the target of racism from day one.

When he fought Barrera he was accused by many of being a 'too ******' and 'not proud enough of being British'.

The same people then booed Khan and hurled taunts of '****' at him when he fought Barrera. They were even wearing Sombrerors and taunting him. I was there, I saw it.

The kid can't catch a break no matter what he does.

He turns his career around sensationally after getting KO'd, becomes champion and blitzes his mandatory within 1 minute yet all they say is 'he is a coward with no chin' and 'I can't wait to see him get sparked'.

Deep down, alot of that hatred and contempt for Khan is underpinned by racism whether people want to admit it or not.

[AndyShitHot]

Amir Khan isn't as popular as Ricky Hatton in the UK, so that means it must be down to his race, so Britain is Racist right?

What crap, then why is Khan fighting on UK PPV and making **** loads in Boxing when Carl Froch can't even get a TV deal. Amir Khan's problem with Britain is just because he doesn't feel he gets the respect he thinks he deserves, so he thinks that must be down to Racism. Wrong, Amir Khan doesn't get the respect he thinks he deserves in Boxing because of his matchmaking, so he should blame Frank Warren, not Racism. That is why people loved it so much when he was knocked out by Prescott because Warren really ****ed up in his matchmaking/cherry-picking.

I don't even consider myself a fan of Khan and i've bought 2 of his PPV's although now i'm fed up with him and want to see him take on real challenges. The guy is a World Champion and hopefully signing with Golden Boy means there will be less cherry picking and more real competition. If he fights Maidana then i'll be buying that fight and supporting him 100%.

[John Hue]

Andy****Hot, That pretty well sums it up.

[dumber79]

That's what I hear from other Brits. Apparently people in some areas were asked to only put their Christmas lights on "dimly" so as not to offend ******s.

******. the thing that gets me is people blatantly refer to the french as 'frogs' or will say something 'don't trust the french', but if the content of the comments were changed to pakistani or indian, then there would be uproar. i'm not saying either is acceptable, but what I am saying is it's some are acceptable, others aren't and it they shouldn't be.

[dumber79]

good post, andy.

[Rocky...]

!I would say that many in the UK dislike Khan and his team for all the bollocks that surrounds his career.

His PPV fights long before he'd done anything to justify a PPV fight

The fact that he was moved up from 135 purely cause he had zero chance of getting a belt there, then got bought a belt by facing the poorest belt holder at 140. Where was he ranked at 140 to deserve that shot?

Before the Kotelnik fight was even made, khan was asked who he thought was the poorest belt holder out there...he answered Kotelnik...then the fight gets made and Khan says he's a tough challenge and a great fighter....

Who has he fought? a washed up Barerra who was fed to him purely to say to Joe public that Khan succeeded where Prince Naseem had failed.

He should have had a rematch with Prescott...no doubt Warren wouldn't let that happen but Khan gobbing off telling us ***in was a worthy opponant is laughable!

We then come to Salita, his mandatory. Khan comes out and says he doesn't want picked fights, he wants to face his mandatorys....LOLita gets KOd and Roach says 'we fear no one'....no one that is except the next mandatory!!!!

In Khan's own words, he says he'll be ready for Mayweather by the end of 2010!

Nothing to do with race.

many want to like Khan and wish he'd face someone who's going to challenge him and stop fighting guys who have no power or are a lot shorter

This is spot on

[General Zod]

Khan has been the target of racism from day one.

But it hasn't stopped him from being successful though. I'm sure Benn,Bruno Eubanks and Nassem couldn't have had it easy either, why didn't they leave?

When he fought Barrera he was accused by many of being a 'too ******' and 'not proud enough of being British'.

But that works both ways a lot of ******s accused him of being too British as well

The kid can't catch a break no matter what he does.

He turns his career around sensationally after getting KO'd, becomes champion and blitzes his mandatory within 1 minute yet all they say is 'he is a coward with no chin' and 'I can't wait to see him get sparked'.

Deep down, alot of that hatred and contempt for Khan is underpinned by racism whether people want to admit it or not.

I agree with you, I'm sure that is an element of racism involved, but he hasn't exactly helped himself either. I'm not sure what to make of him he showed a lot of heart in that fight with Gomez and has good speed and skills. But he is going to have to fight Maidana, before I jump on the Khan bandwagon.

[gingeralbino]

Khan has been the target of racism from day one.

When he fought Barrera he was accused by many of being a 'too ******' and 'not proud enough of being British'.

The same people then booed Khan and hurled taunts of '****' at him when he fought Barrera. They were even wearing Sombrerors and taunting him. I was there, I saw it.

The kid can't catch a break no matter what he does.

He turns his career around sensationally after getting KO'd, becomes champion and blitzes his mandatory within 1 minute yet all they say is 'he is a coward with no chin' and 'I can't wait to see him get sparked'.

Deep down, alot of that hatred and contempt for Khan is underpinned by racism whether people want to admit it or not.

Dont forget Barrera has a LOT of fans in the UK and this was their only oppertuinity to see him fight in the UK. Of course he was gonna have support at the fight, he's a ****ing legend. I like Khan, but i wanted Barrera to win that fight even though i knew he had no chance. Shouting racist abuse at him was out of order, but im guessing that was a small minority of the crowd. U get 1000s of people in one place theres gonna be a few ****heads.

On a side note, that fight was a ****ing desgrace. Not Khan's fault in any shape or form, but that was a set up.

[BritishBoxing92]

hell yeah....im the same race and religion as amir and trust me theres loads of Racist people in the UK...i know i live in Manchester and have met some pretty racist peeps in past

[mitch12]

by John Wight - Good luck to Amir Khan with his decision to sign with Golden Boy and focus his career in the United States from this point on. There are undoubtedly many reasons for the young Bolton fighter’s decision, but money surely isn’t one of them – not for a young man who’s already made more than enough in his short career thus far. Nor will it be because he’s been unhappy with his relationship with Frank Warren, the man responsible for shepherding his pro career since he returned to the UK with an Olympic silver medal from the games in Athens back in 2004. Indeed, Frank Warren deserves much credit for bringing Khan on the way he has, especially after his one defeat at the hands of Breidis Prescott in 2008. After such a devastating KO Khan’s confidence would inevitably have been shaken, and lesser promoters might have struggled to coax him through the inevitable months of depression and doubts which followed. That Khan has bounced back from that low point in such convincing style is in no small way a credit to Warren, who never for a second lost belief in his protégé, even when the knives were out among the UK boxing literati, though to read some of them literature is obviously a word from an ancient language..

In a pure boxing sense this is a move that makes complete sense, and its timing could not be better. Since decamping to LA to train under Freddie Roach, Khan has embraced both Freddie’s training regimen and the southern Californian lifestyle, where year round sunshine sits in stark contrast to UK winter weather which this year has been bad enough to make the South Pole seem like a better alternative.

There’s also the mouth watering prospect of being matched against and beating the sport’s elite, winning the respect of what remains the most educated and sophisticated boxing public there is (an apology here to my fellow Brits, but credit where credit is due) at the same time. Amir Khan’s incredible speed and rate of improvement under Roach makes both of the aforementioned well within his grasp over the next few years, and I for one will be watching his career with interest from here on in.

However, we should not fall into the trap of fooling ourselves that boxing is the only reason for Amir Khan’s decision to cut his ties with the UK. In fact, I would even go as far to suggest that boxing isn’t the main reason. Regardless of those who think otherwise, the world of sports does and cannot exist in isolation from the world around it and in Britain anti-****** racism has poisoned society to the point where it’s impossible to pick up a newspaper or watch the TV news in Britain today without a negative stereotype of ******s or Islam staring back at you. Khan, the highest profile ****** sportsman in the country, has heard the boos at his fights over the years, not to mention noticed the glee with which many welcomed his one and only defeat as a pro thus far, and knew in his heart that much of it was motivated by good old fashioned racism.

In a country where it has long been customary to talk about ‘going down to the Pakis’ to buy some milk and bread, many reading this will be entitled to question if much has changed in British society when it comes to the common perception of Asians living in the country. Well, with two wars in the Middle East and a so-called War on Terror currently being waged, to be an Asian in the UK today is to be marked out as the enemy within. Khan, quite rightly the pride of the Britain’s Asian community, sadly but almost inevitably has been the target of much of the accumulated fear and ignorance that exists among a significant section of the British public for the reasons described.

The fact is that Khan has never conducted himself in public with anything less than integrity and professionalism, making himself readily available for interviews and never less than courteous and polite when conducting them. He could well have afforded himself the opportunity of the platform which fame has brought him to air some political views, to turn himself into a spokesman for his people, speaking out against the war and the Islamophobia that is now common currency in the country of his birth. Personally speaking, I wish he would.

Yet having said that one gets the distinct impression that this is a young man who knows his limitations, knows that a young Ali he is not, and sees his purpose in life at this point in time exclusively tied to what takes place inside the ring and nowhere else. This approach has no doubt been the advice given by those around him, including and especially Frank Warren, a man whom you cannot help but feel views politics as a minefield best avoided when it comes to the business of selling tickets and pay-per-view hits.

Ultimately, the ills of society find their reflection in the world of sports, where men live their unfulfilled dreams vicariously through the victories of their heroes, as well as vent their frustrations and prejudices against those they identify as the enemy. Sports, some say, is a metaphor for war, with boxing especially providing an excuse to indulge primal instincts which centuries of civilisation, not to mention the courts, have taught us to avoid and suppress.

For far too long, Asians in Britain have been regarded as second class citizens, verbally abused at will, their customs and religious beliefs derided and disdained. But a new generation has emerged of young Asian men and women who are proud, unapologetic and who do not ask but demand to be treated with dignity and respect. In deciding to move his career stateside, Amir Khan has just served notice that he refuses to be judged by the colour of his skin or his religious beliefs in his country of birth any longer.

********boxingdotcommmmmm

well Islam isnt popular in the uk why would it be .