A vocal minority of bigots are responsible for Amir Khan’s decision to move to the US
By John Wight
Good luck to Amir Khan with his decision to sign with Golden Boy and re-focus his career in the United States from now 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 Britain with an Olympic silver medal from the games in Athens back in 2004. Indeed, he 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 protege, even when the knives were out among the British boxing literati. That said, lest people start to get the impression that Warren is running a Christian charity, his relationship with Khan has earned him a pretty penny over the years, which should help to sweeten the bitter pill of losing him to pastures new.
In a pure boxing sense the timing of this move 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 the British winter weather which this year has been bad enough to make the South Pole seem like a better alternative. Gone are early winter mornings trussed up in three layers in order to venture out for roadwork, having to summon up every ounce of determination in order to do so without questioning your sanity.
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 at the same time. Khan’s incredible speed and rate of improvement under Roach put both of the aforementioned well within his grasp over the next few years and it will be interestesing to see how his career progresses as a result.
However, we should not fall into the trap of fooling ourselves that boxing is the only reason for Khan’s decision to cut his ties with Britain. In fact, there is reason to believe that boxing isn’t the main reason. Regardless of those who think otherwise, the world of sport does not exist in isolation from the world around it and in Britain anti-Muslim racism has poisoned society to the point where it’s impossible to pick up a newspaper or watch the TV news without a negative stereotype of Muslims or Islam staring back at you.
Ever since its formation last year, the English Defence League (EDL) has insisted it is not racist and doesn’t have a problem with ordinary Muslims, just radical extremists.
Four men who were part of a mob that went on the rampage during a 
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“Islam doesn’t demand that men cover their faces before they go out, but its more extreme advocates place special conditions on how women dress outside the home. It’s a typical example of patriarchal practice, based on the notion that women should be under the control of their male relatives at all times, and it’s incompatible with any notion of universal human rights….