Former world champion boxer Amir Khan has said he feels safer living in Dubai than the UK after being robbed at gunpoint for his £70,000 diamond encrusted watch a year ago. The 36-year-old Bolton boxer was robbed of the watch as he left a restaurant in east London on April 18 last year with his wife, Faryal Makhdoom, 31.
Amir, who has three young children, has now said he prefers to live Dubai with his family after being left scared for his life here. Speaking on Good Morning Britain yesterday (Tuesday March 4), before the news broke that he had been handed a two-year ban from sport after testing positive for a banned substance, Amir described the terrifying moment he had a gun pointed in his face.
"Life just goes right past you." he told Good Morning Britain presenters Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley. "I remember someone pushing me to the car and put a gun straight to my face. He didn't say anything and I was in shock.
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"It's only when he said 'take off your watch' I realised he's come for the watch. I remember him having the gun on the side of my head."
The I'm A Celebrity ...Get Me Out Of Here! star described: "You think about your family, your children. I've never seen a gun for real. I remember looking straight in the barrel when he put it right in front of me. Down the barrel. I thought if he is going to shoot, I have to look away."
Amir says he's now "picky" about where he goes and takes security with him to busy places. He said: "I'm very picky now where I go. I pick and choose what time I go to places and make sure that sometimes I take security with me if I go to a very busy place."
And he added: "It's made a little bit more difficult now to travel on my own or with my family to places I would normally go. Since this happened I am a little bit scared now when I go to different places.
"When you have a family, you have children, you start to think differently - you're doing it for them. I just want to make sure that I'm going to be safe. I want to see them grow up."
Richard asked: "You're now living abroad, you don't want to stay here anymore?" and Amir explained: "It's a lot safer for me. Being abroad, living abroad. I still live here. I spend a lot of time here in the UK and Dubai as well. I just feel more safe bringing my kids up and taking them out there. I don't have no fear."
He added: "It did shock me a little bit and put me in a lot of fear. I feel a lot more comfortable when I'm over there yeah."
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