Amir Khan explains Losing £12.5m of ‘Blood Money’

Amir Khan opened up about losing £12.5 million of “blood money” while investing in his Bolton wedding venue.

The former boxer appeared on JOE and discussed a range of topics whilst promoting his autobiography, titled Amir Khan: Fight For Your Life.

Speaking about the wedding venue, Amir revealed that it was initially meant to cost £4 million.

However, the amount rose to over £12 million and Amir told host Oli Dugmore:

“It is what it is. It will upset me a lot because I thought it was a lot of money to throw into something.

“It’s a money pit where you are throwing money into it and there is no return.

“You know this is blood money as well, I’ve been taking punches all my life for this, I’ve got hurt for this and it really upset me so I managed to get it all sorted out, couldn’t sell it because if I did, I’d have to sell it for half the price.

“I said forget selling it, I’ll just run it as a business. I’ve now got it up and running.

“I rented it out to a company and it’s worked out well but yeah, it was a very tough time and it put me in a really dark place because with all that money being spent and then having a hand operation, I thought am I going to fight again because look at how much money has gone down the drain.”

Amir Khan went on to reveal that his bank accounts turned out “dirty” due to those managing them.

“Slowly in time, I got some control back [of my accounts].”

Amir also opened up about racism.

Oli pointed out a quote from Amir where he had said:

“Win and you’re British, lose and you’re Pakistani.”

When the British National Party (BNP) began making gains in Bolton, the then-leader Nick Griffin told Amir he should be “encouraged” to leave Britain.

Speaking about dealing with racism on a public platform, Amir said:

“It was quite sad to see that publicly and I looked at it and I thought to myself, this person who is saying that to our race, I’ve shown that I’m more British than him by winning a medal for the country and representing the country.

“So really that kind of stuff, I’ve never let it get to me and I’ve only risen above it.”

However, he admitted that it did affect him.

“It does affect you because you think well we live in a country like England where we have done so much over here, we call it our home and we respect it as our home.

“But there’s people who want us out and want us away so I’ve spoken about that in the book as well.”

Opening up about his first professional boxing defeat, Amir Khan said he had people ending their friendship with him overnight.

“It was new to me because as soon as I lost a fight, the friends that were around me said they would be behind me.

“But they all walked out on me, maybe 50% and the people that normally call you don’t call you anymore.

“And obviously I was only young then, it got me quite sensitive and it got me quite emotional.

“But it made me stronger and into the person that I am now.”

Watch the Full Interview: