02 December 2023 , 15:25
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Amir Khan has rejected the chance to buy the gold medal he missed out on at the 2004 Olympics.
Khan, then a 17-year-old prodigy, was beaten by legendary Cuban Mario Kindelan in their Athens final almost 20 years ago. The Brit went on to avenge his defeat in a rematch the following year before turning professional and going on to become a world champion.
He was reunited with Kindelan in Bahrain this week where the 52-year-old offered to sell his medal to Khan for $5,000 to help him build a house for his mum in Cuba. But Khan rejected the offer and instead gave the two-time Olympic champion the money.
"I've just met Mario and got talking to him," said Khan. "He told me a story; he wants to build a house in his country, Cuba, and wanted to sell me the gold medal, the one he beat me for. "He said, 'Amir, I'm going to give you the gold medal, just give me $5,000'. I told him that gold medal belongs to him, he's the champion, he beat me in the Olympic final.
"So I'm going to give him $5,000 to build his house; it's no publicity stunt, it touched my heart. That's how desperate he is, he wants to give away his Olympic gold medal. It touched my heart and that's the reason I'm going to give the money to him." Khan added to Kindelan: "I will give you the money for your mother's home but you have to keep the gold medal." Mirror Fighting has seen confirmation of the donation and understands a business parter of Khan's has doubled the donation.
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Khan won his first 18 fights as a professional before he was stopped by Breidis Prescott in a stunning upset in 2008. Khan rebuild and won his first world title a year later when he beat Andreas Kotelnik in Manchester before adding a second with a stoppage win over Zab Judah.
Khan retired from boxing following his stoppage defeat by bitter rival Kell Brook in Manchester last year. He was then slapped with a backdated two-year doping ban after he failed a drugs test following the final bout of his career. Khan denied cheating and UK Anti-Doping accepted the dosage of the banned substance ostarine was too small to have had any advantage.