NEARLY two years after your last fight, how are you adjusting to retirement?
It’s good. I’m living a very peaceful, chilled life. There’s no pressure on me to wake up and go for a run; train. The pressure, knowing you have a fight coming up, it’s not there no more. It’s the best thing ever, man.
I know I need something else to keep me busy, and at the moment I’ve not even done that, because I’ve just been enjoying my time off. I’m going to go into something else – properties, real estate – and I’m spending time with my kids [Lamaisah, nine; Alayna, five; Zaviyar, three], because I never spent time like this with them before.
I’ve got enough money in the bank – tens of millions – investments, and everything I own is cash-paid. I’m very happy. However, the last fight [February 2022’s defeat by Kell Brook] went, I’m still happy, because boxing’s been good to me and financially I’m secure. I’ve got no worries at all. I’m enjoying my life – I just want to see my kids grow. They give me that happiness, that buzz. It’s brilliant, I’m telling you.
Living in Dubai as well, because with the gun crime [in the UK; Khan and his wife Faryal Makhdoom were last year robbed at gunpoint in east London], it gets a little bit dangerous, but other than that I love England. I love coming back. Dubai’s very hot; there’s too many nice restaurants; you always meet people there. That’s why I’m putting on weight now. I’m not doing nothing crazy – I cleaned up the mess I had from before, [with] my investments, and I’m in a place where I’m in control of everything. My family’s happy; my wife’s happy; my kids are very happy. I live a very simple but comfortable life.
As a fighter, I [achieved] more than I ever expected. What I did in the game, looking back at it, I’m thinking: “I did really well from the sport”. At the time, I didn’t think much
