ON Tuesday Amir Khan performed a public workout in front of a lively crowd in Birmingham. His week will culminate on Saturday at the Arena Birmingham when he fights Samuel Vargas.
He is a heavy favourite, but insists he won’t take Vargas for granted. “The last fight ended quite quick against Lo Greco, probably one of the quickest wins of my career. Going into this fight I’m going to be more than ready. I’ve trained for the full 12 rounds. If it goes the distance, I’m going to be ready. I’m going to be ready for a brutal hard fight from the first round to the last round. Anything can happen in boxing, you’re always that one punch away from getting hurt, but I’m going to be ready more than ever,” he said. “All my training was all around that 12 round distance.”
He knows he must win. “There’s a lot of big fights out there for me. There’s talks about Manny Pacquiao, there’s talks about Kell Brook. But obviously I’m not looking past this fight. Because this fight is dangerous. If I make a mistake in this fight I can forget about the future. I have to take care of Samuel Vargas. He’s coming to fight. Hopefully I get a good win. Not only get a win but get a good spectacular win, then hopefully some big fight at the end of the year,” Khan said.
“If it’s Brook, bring him on. If it’s Manny Pacquiao bring him on. Whoever it is.”
Khan, who often engages in philanthropy, had invited young people from the Nechells POD organisation, which works to develop social cohesion, to join him at the public workout. “It was great to meet the kids from Nechells POD during the media workout ahead of my next fight on Saturday night. Nechells POD is doing fantastic work to help the local community and the young people in Birmingham. I really enjoyed chatting with them about their work and programmes and look forward to seeing the organisation continue enriching the lives of the kids in the community,” he added.
