Amir Khan is planning a future away from boxing after announcing his retirement and has hinted he could soon be starring on the small screen again.
Khan was a hit when he appeared on ‘ I’m a Celebrity ’ in 2017 and says he has been asked to do another “very, very big show”. He appeared to let the cat out of the bag when he said it was a show he had done before.
He and his wife Faryal also have their own reality TV show on BBC called ‘Meet the Khans: Big in Bolton’ and he says he likes appearing on TV. Khan said: “I’ve been asked to do a very, very big show. I can’t give the name to you. But I’ll give you a clue. I’ve been on it before.”
When asked if he was going to go back in the jungle, he refused to give anymore details. “I’m not saying nothing,” he smiled. “I’ve been asked to go there. Look, I think it’ll be brilliant. I think people get to see another side of me and it would be nice to do something like that. Now that I’ve got time I can do it.
“Before I couldn’t do it. The only reason I did it last time was because I had the hand injury. I said I’m out of boxing anyway because I can’t train with my hand so I’ll go in the jungle. Otherwise I would probably not have done that.” Khan famously revealed his fear of spiders on ‘I’m a Celebrity’ and he says he loved the whole experience.
“I enjoyed it,” he said. “It’s of the best thing I ever did, going in the jungle, being away from everyone, being focused, focusing on you and what you want to do in life. I didn’t have other voices telling me what to do. I was thinking for myself. I loved it, honestly. The team I had around me was amazing. Dennis Wise and Rebekah Vardy and Jamie Lomas. They were all amazing. Everyone was great and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had - apart from seeing spiders and snakes and s**t.”
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Khan plans to take a complete break from boxing and does not want to see the inside of a gym for a few months. He hopes to do some punditry with Sky Sports and he plans to move into promoting. He is applying for his promoter’s licence, but says he hasn’t yet approached any fighters to sign them up.
“There are guys I’m having talks with as regards TV work,” he said. “It would be nice to be a pundit with Sky. Obviously they want me on there as well, so I will probably do something with Sky on the punditry. And in America I’ve been asked a couple of times by a couple of promoters to do some shows with them over there. I like talking about boxing. That will keep me busy.”
Khan ruled out boxing in exhibitions, like Ricky Hatton and one of his former foes Marco Antonio Barrera are doing, and says he will be happy being retired. “With these injuries I’m getting, If I were asked to get in a ring I would be like ‘hell no!’,” he said.I want to walk away from the sport, I don’t even want to train. I want to enjoy this retirement and not walk into a gym for a least a couple of months.”
