"In America whenever there is sparring, everybody surrounds the ring. They are shouting at you," Amir Khan explains his harrowing experience; Khan faces Kell Brook on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Box Office
Tuesday 15 February 2022 16:05, UK
Amir Khan realised something was dodgy when the gym started filling up with tough guys from the local neighbourhood – they arrived en masse, clearly anticipating a show, but why?
This was Omaha, Nebraska, last year. The bad part of town. The part where Terence Crawford had emerged from the gunfire to become the world's best fighter. Khan had sought out his former opponent Crawford to prepare him for Saturday's fight with Kell Brook, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Khan has spent weeks here, but on this occasion he was just a couple of days into his first visit. He was still mulling over his options. This was a no-strings visit, away from the public eye, a chance for him to bond with Brian 'BoMac' McIntyre, the man who led Crawford from the ghetto to glory.
Or so Khan thought.
Unfit and unsuspecting, Khan was called into the ring to spar. This was never the arrangement. He was only supposed to be light training. Suddenly, he was being forced into a pair of gloves.
The neighbourhood guys came flooding into the gym because they knew Khan would be put in the ring. It was a stitch-up.
"It was [intimidating]. You have to stand your ground," Khan tells Sky Sports.
"In America whenever there is sparring, everybody surrounds the ring. They are shouting at you.
"There were people watching and I had to put on a performance. I had to be smart."
Two fresh, sharp (and crucially prepared) local fighters were thrown into the ring with Khan. He remained for several rounds, they took turns to catch their breath.
Khan was forced to bite down on his gumshield, abandon his slick skills, and battle for survival. This was the sparring session where he realised that the 'the old Amir Khan' still exists.
"I did really well against them," he says.
"They had respect for me.
"The kids told me: 'Damn you are quick, you are fast, you are good'.
"I'm getting older but people were telling me that I am more explosive, even quicker. That's what you need to hear, sometimes."
Khan had survived. Which meant his brotherhood with ex-rival Crawford and BoMac, who will now be in his corner against Brook, was forged.
Khan's alliance with his former opponent came from an unusual source.
"My wife got in touch with BoMac, who said I could come," he explains. "My wife sent me over for a training camp!
"She told me: 'Just see if you like it'.
"I loved it. It's what I needed in my life."
His first days in Omaha ignored his decades in the sport and the world championships that he has won. He was a beginner again and was forced to prove himself to the local fighters.
"The first day I went running. But I was overweight and unhealthy," he says.
"When I came back to the UK, I trained hard every day.
"So when I went back to Omaha I was beating everybody in the runs. I felt sharp again. It gave me confidence.
"I thought: 'I've still got it'."
Crawford, the undefeated WBO welterweight champion who has beaten both Khan and Brook, tells Sky Sports about Khan's preparation: "He was working hard, he was doing everything that he should be doing."
There was mutual respect, Khan says: "There was no nervousness because me and Crawford have always spoken on social media, even before our fight.
"Me and Crawford trained together, we ran together. He is a gentleman.
"What makes him pound-for-pound is how tough he is. He works so hard. I saw how much he pushes himself.
"He gave me tips. He says that he wants to help me for this fight.
"I will definitely ask his advice about Kell. He told me that he wasn't troubled at all by Kell."
Crawford is a hero in his local community where a street is named in his honour, but Khan's fame translated when word got out that he was in town.
"I loved it because, when they saw me, I realised how big my fan-base is," he says.
"The kids ran over to me to take pictures. They thought: 'Wow, Amir has joined the gym'.
"It was nice to see how they appreciated me being there."
Like Crawford's own training camps, the first portion is done in Omaha (where Khan either ran outside in the snow or inside in a boiling-hot gym) to Colorado, where the altitude is gruelling.
Khan would spar four-minute rounds, with a 30-second rest, at 7,000ft altitude.
"It's a shock to the system," he says. "Doing one session here is like doing two sessions [elsewhere].
"They have held their camps here for many years but I am new to this. It's tough. The air is a lot thinner when you're in the ring and on the pads.
"I have pains, I have injuries, but I have to overcome them. I can't think about them. Aches and pains, as you get older, don't recover as quickly."
Brook has questioned Khan's motivation for still being a boxer when he has accrued millions in earnings and a legacy that will stand the test of time.
Opting to spend so long in hostile territory in the US suggests the very best Amir Khan will return on Saturday.
He says through gritted teeth: "I'm away from distractions, from family, from friends.
"I am very serious. I don't want to be here. But I have to be here."
Watch Khan vs Brook on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Box Office, from 6pm. Book it via your Sky remote or book it online here. Non-Sky TV subscribers can book and watch it here.
