Amir nomore mr nice guy

**emma** · 07-08-2006 09:42 PM

AMIR Khan is cutting down on the fame game because it was getting in the way of his dreams of boxing glory.

The lightweight sensation admits it became difficult fitting his celebrity lifestyle in with his training.

Khan, 19, loves the adulation he has received since he became a household name overnight by winning silver at the Athens Olympics two years ago.

But even he realised he had to start saying no to some of the dozens of personal appearance requests which pour into the office in his home every day.

"I just get invited everywhere - to open shops, go to schools and do a lot of charity stuff," he said.

"In the early stages after Athens, we were saying yes to everything because I didn't want to let people down.

"We were trying to keep everyone happy and that did cause some problems. It was getting too much and in the end I've had to put a stop to it three weeks before a fight because I just wanted to focus on my fight and not mess up my routine.

"Sometimes you just have to say no. That's something we have learnt. Now we say, 'Sorry, maybe after the next fight'.

"I just get stopped everywhere. Even walking about here in Cardiff, I'm getting stopped all the time for photographs and autographs. It's nice, but sometimes you want to do your own stuff." Khan's trainer Oliver Harrison is much happier that Khan is cutting back. He was concerned his prodigy was becoming distracted by his celebrity status.

Harrison was alarmed by Khan's at times sloppy display in his last fight against Laszlo Komjathi in May. The Bolton fighter took too many punches on his way to a points win.

Khan puts that down to laziness on his part and he has promised a more polished performance tonight against Scotland's Colin Bain in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in what should be a routine eighth straight win for him.

"In my last fight, I learned a lot but to be honest I was a a bit bored because he was just standing there," he said. "I got hit with a couple of shots and I think that was me just being lazy.

"I saw that shot coming and I let him hit me because I wanted to see what it was like getting hit with an 8oz glove. No boxer has hit me like that before and when he did hit me, it was like nothing.

"That was down to me not focusing. I know I can cope with the pressure and all I need to do is to train hard and box well, stay sharp and focused."

Khan's career remains in fast forward mode. "It's hard to believe that it's been a year since my first pro fight," said Khan.

"I plan to win a world title by 21, but think I'll only have 30 fights in my pro career."

dailymirror.co.uk

**BrooklyniteQueen** · 07-08-2006 10:30 PM

But people like Mayweather do that type of stuff all the time and don't let it hinder them because they train twice as hard. Maybe Khans problem is doing all those charity things and training at thge same pace. If he trained twice as hard after these events he wouldn't have to worry.