Amir Khan confused by missing £30m which left him unable to retire in 2016

Amir Khan has finally retired from boxing following his defeat to Kell Brook, but has now revealed he came very close to walking away from the sport six years ago

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Amir Khan announces retirement from Boxing

Amir Khan is walking away from boxing six years later than planned after a huge chunk of his fortune went ‘missing’.

Khan, 35, was beaten in an explosive bout by long-term rival Kell Brook in February after years of bitterness between the pair. Following his defeat in Manchester, Khan duly confirmed his retirement having won 34 of his 40 professional fights.

The multi-weight world champion burst on to the scene at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, winning a silver medal. Despite his deflating exit from the sport, the Bolton-born star will go down as one of Britain’s greatest ever boxers.

However, it seems it could all have been over six years earlier than planned. In 2016, Khan moved up two weight divisions to fight Canelo Alvarez, eventually succumbing to a savage sixth round knockout.

The brutal clash still earned him around £9 million, but when he was then told he needed surgery, a check of his overall finances left him in shock: “At that time, I probably made about £30million in boxing but guess what? I don’t know where it all went,” he told BBC 5 Live .

And unlike a lot of high-profile athletes, Khan claims it wasn’t blown on lavish spending habits: “And it wasn’t because I was a big spender. It’s about having a team around you, obviously it’s a team, obviously everyone is happy, apart from me.”

The development prompted a rethink, and five more career fights would follow: “When I came back and looked at my account, and I thought, ‘If I’m going to call it a day after the hand operation I had, if I’m going to call it a day, I can’t call it a day with what I had in my bank.

“I mean, where’s all my money gone? But it’s too late for me to argue with the people who were in control of all my finances like my accountants, places like that.”

After a two-year hiatus from the ring, Khan returned at welterweight level, beating Phil Lo Greco and then Samuel Vargas. He then earned £4 million by challenging Terrence Crawford for the WBO welterweight title, despite suffering a stoppage defeat.

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A bout in Saudi Arabia against veteran Billy Dib, where Khan captured the WBC International welterweight title, made him £7 million. That would prove his last fight for almost three years, before he returned to take on Brook.

Khan reportedly had the option of a rematch with ‘Special K’, but after some deliberation, announced the end of his career, citing a fear of getting hurt: “I’ve got a beautiful family, beautiful kids, I’ve got enough money in the bank so let’s sit back and relax.

“Why continue when anything can happen? You’re only one punch away from getting hurt, knocked out or killed. While I’ve got the chips on my side, I’m happy to walk away and call it a day.”