A small group of us were putting the world to rights at the gym across San Francisco Bay where Amir Khan is training for the biggest fight of his life.
Khan was in the throes of telling us how the Olympics had changed his life, how he had been a teenage boy without a friend as the only member of Britain’s boxing team at Athens 2004 but is now surrounded by admirers wherever he goes.
There came a knock at the door and a middle-aged woman was ushered in. Her name, appropriately as it transpired, was Faith.
‘Oh my God,’ Faith exclaimed as she set eyes on our young man from Bolton. ‘I think I’ve died and gone to Heaven.’
Once she composed herself she said: ‘I did not believe you were here. Now I will be watching you in Las Vegas. I will be praying for you to win on May 7.’
That is when Khan steps above his welterweight — and many believe out of his depth — to challenge Mexican idol Canelo Alvarez for the middleweight championship of the world.
Khan put an arm around his visitor’s shoulders, posed with her for a photograph, signed an autograph and said: ‘Thank you Faith. That means a lot to me.’
It was ahuman metaphor for how his very existence has been transformed, not just by his Athens experience but by his oft-derided sport.
‘Boxing saved me from a life on the streets of Bolton,’ says Khan, 29. ‘It taught me discipline and gave me something to aim for — gave me this ambition to become the best boxer in the world.
‘As a boy against the odds in Athens I beat a lot of experienced men and won my silver medal. Then the world titles made me a household name.’
Yet Khan admits that fame turned his head for a while.
He says: ‘I did some crazy things, driving around in flash cars and all that. But boxing also teaches you to be humble. I’ve learned that lesson. I’ve matured.
‘My priorities are different. It’s no longer just about having fun. Everything I do now is concentrated on the future of my family, on my wife and daughter. That and leaving my stamp on boxing.
‘I’ve come to realise how fortunate I am to have made enough money to secure our lives. Now I come to the fight which can realise my lifelong dream of becoming the best at what I do best. Canelo is the superstar of the ring at the moment.
‘Most people think I’m mad to be fighting this bigger, stronger champion. For us, it’s Athens all over again. It’s me, my dad and my trainer against the world. We’re going to surprise everyone again. Beating him is about setting my name in stone.’
Physically, Khan is preparing for this challenge which has surprised most in the boxing world by eating more of his healthy diet, adding muscle and ‘training harder than ever in my life’.
Psychologically, he is taking his mind back to Athens and his age of innocence then, just 17.
There is one element of that nostalgia which is drawing Khan back to the Games if officials gain the approval they are seeking for top professionals like himself, Manny Pacquiao and Wladmir Klitschko to compete in Rio this summer.
Those three would be going against the resistance of the majority who vehemently oppose the concept of world champions boxing young amateurs, even over only three rounds in more heavily padded gloves.
Khan argues: ‘We would have problems, too. Especially given our different kind of training which would make it very difficult for us to make the weight five times in three weeks instead of once every four or five months.
‘But I would love to go to the Olympics again if it makes sense. Of course, one reason is that it would be great if I can turn my silver into gold. Another is that I am proud to represent Great Britain. But above all because there are going to be 10 or more UK boxers in Rio.
‘The one thing I missed in Athens was the team spirit. I would have loved to be part of a strong GB team all inspiring each other. I enjoy that comradeship.’
First of all Khan has other business to attend to, pointing out: ‘I intend to win my biggest on May 7. That will set up more huge fights here. Maybe a revenge match for me against Danny Garcia. Maybe even Gennady Golovkin for the unified middleweight championship if he, too, would agree to a catch weight. I would love to bring a huge fight to my UK fans. At the moment my place of work is the US and I’ve been here for almost all of the last 12 months, in training for this mega-fight which I knew would come one day against someone — and it turns out to be Alvarez.
‘Yet home is still Bolton. It’s just that 11 hours by plane is a bit of a longer commute than hopping on a bus at the end of a hard day at the office. But in the end Bolton will be where we live.’
For now, he is bunkered down in trainer Virgil Hunter’s gym in a drab industrial park near Oakland. This is a far cry from the bright lights of Los Angeles which sometimes distracted him when training there with previous mentor Freddie Roach. Time was when he would have gone stir crazy here but now there is only one big night out in his diary.
The hot one in Vegas on May 7 when he will be some five pounds heavier — at just over 11 stones —than for any previous fight, but he still promises the 2,000 fans booked to travel from England that he will be as fast and dangerous as ever.
As that nice lady who came calling on their hero the other day could tell them: Keep the Faith. – Daily Mail