{"id":677795,"date":"2026-05-18T02:49:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/677795\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T02:49:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:49:29","slug":"amir-khan-mulls-entering-bareknuckle-boxing-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/677795\/","title":{"rendered":"Amir Khan Mulls Entering Bareknuckle Boxing [Exclusive]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amir Khan is open to a bare-knuckle boxing debut under the right conditions. Legendary Gareth A. Davies, long-time boxing correspondent for the Telegraph, teased the possibility of Khan entering the BKB triangle for a sensational comeback during the press conference for BKB 54: Manchester Mayhem and in the ring following the event.<\/p>\n

The card was headlined by Paulie Malignaggi taking on BKB super welterweight champion Rolando Gabriel Dy Jr.. At age 45, Malignaggi, 36-8 with 7 KOs in professional boxing and 1-2 in bare-knuckle, was attempting to become one of the oldest champions in the history of combat sports. <\/p>\n

Dy improved to a 6-1 bare-knuckle record when he stopped Malignaggi in the second round. Khan, meanwhile, served as one of the commentators for the broadcast.<\/p>\n

\"Amir<\/p>\n

Amir Khan | IMAGO \/ PRiME Media Images<\/p>\n

Khan spoke to KO on SI<\/a> directly about whether he would return to boxing \u2014 albeit without gloves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it’s proper, I mean, let’s see, who knows? I mean, look, I love a fight\u2026I do miss getting in the ring,\u201d Khan said.<\/p>\n

Sources close to Khan (34-6 record and 21 Knockouts ) said he continues to pursue lucrative fights with Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., two superfights that never materialized during his career. <\/p>\n

Pacquiao retired with a legendary 62-8-2 mark with 39 knockouts, while Mayweather famously finished undefeated at 50-0 with 27 knockouts. Fight fans should note that footage of Khan sparring Pacquiao remains widely available online. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love a fight. I miss getting in the ring, throwing punches \u2014 it\u2019s in our blood. You get those itchy knuckles, and part of you always wants to step back in. I don\u2019t know if my wife would want me to fight again, but that fire never really leaves you,\u201d the 39-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\"Terence<\/p>\n

Terence Crawford vs Amir Khan | IMAGO \/ ZUMA Press Wire<\/p>\n

Malignaggi failed to wrestle the title from Dy to become a BKB world champion, but might Khan face his old rival once again? No title would be necessary to attract fan interest. The two fought with gloves in 2010, a bout Khan won convincingly. <\/p>\n

What happened the last time Khan fought Malignaggi<\/p>\n

It was the Italian-American fighter\u2019s last appearance at junior welterweight. Malignaggi struggled badly to make the limit, and in the aftermath, signed with Golden Boy Promotions. Ironically, BKB CEO David Tetreault is himself a former Golden Boy executive.<\/p>\n

Khan and Malignaggi stood shoulder to shoulder once more this week for interviews\u2014 like two survivors from the final age of premium-cable boxing. Men from a pre-algorithm, pre-influencer era, when boxing still belonged largely to working-class cities like Manchester, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe Paulie will want to get his payback\u2026[or] world title of any kind is always nice to have in your collection, so who knows?\u201d Khan mused.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amir Khan is open to a bare-knuckle boxing debut under the right conditions. Legendary Gareth A. Davies, long-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-677795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}