Haroun Khan | |
Birth Name: | Haroon Khan |
Birth Date: | [1] |
Nickname: | King |
Weight: | Super flyweight |
Birth Place: | Bolton, England |
Style: | Orthodox |
Total: | 7 |
Wins: | 7 |
Ko: | 3 |
Losses: | 0 |
Show-Medals: | yes |
Haroon Iqbal Khan[2] [3] (born 10 May 1991) is a British and Pakistani professional boxer, and Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist.
Khan was born in Bolton, England, to a Pakistani Punjabi family with roots in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.[4]
He is the younger brother of former WBA and IBF World Light Welterweight Champion Amir Khan and is the first cousin of English cricketer Sajid Mahmood, related through a Paternal grandfather, Lal Khan, who came to England after being discharged from the Pakistan Army.[5]
Prior to boxing, Khan played football for his local club before the club was eventually shut down. Khan supports his local football team Bolton Wanderers and he also enjoys Indian Premier League cricket. His all-time favorite boxer is Oscar De La Hoya.[6]
In 2016, Khan married Arifa Janjua in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.[7] Khan and Janjua then flew back to Bolton where their Walima took place.[8]
Khan took up boxing through watching his older brother prevail at the sport as a youngster,[9] as an amateur, he fought in the Bantamweight class where he held 66 wins and 19 losses. Khan has previously won the Junior ABA Championships once and Junior Four Nations Challenge twice.[6]
The highlight of his Amateur career came when he qualified for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi following a defeat over Tanzanian boxer Sunday Elias with a blow to the head in the third round.[10]
Khan chose to represent Pakistan[11] after being overlooked by the Team GB selectors in favor of Andrew Selby, who he went on to beat in the quarter-finals,[12] and was thus guaranteed a medal before losing out to the eventual gold medalist, Indian boxer Suranjoy Singh. He became one of two Pakistanis to win a bronze-medal for boxing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the other being Muhammad Waseem.[13]
Khan was banned by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) from representing Pakistan in World Amateur Boxing Championships, a qualifier to the 2012 Olympics, as he prepared for the tournament because he had represented for England as a youth even though he gained Pakistani citizenship in 2010. His father tried to appeal the ban but failed to have it lifted.[14]
Khan debuted at super flyweight, and was coached by Oliver Harrison, his elder brother Amir Khan's former coach.[6]
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|7 wins (3 knockouts, 4 decisions), 0 losses (0 knockouts, 0 decisions), 0 draws[15] |- style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;"| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Res.| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Record| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Opponent| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Type| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Rd.| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Date| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Location| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Notes|- align=center |Win |7-0|align=left| Gyula Dodu | ||||align=left||align=left||- align=center |Win |6-0|align=left| Patrik Bartos | ||||align=left||align=left||- align=center|Win|5–0|align=left| Csaba Kovacs|||||align=left||align=left||- align=center|Win|4–0|align=left| Francis Croes|||||align=left||align=left||- align=center|Win|3–0|align=left| Stefan Slavchev|||||align=left||align=left||- align=center|Win|2–0|align=left| Vincente Medellin|||||align=left||align=left||- align=center|Win|1–0|align=left| Brett Fidoe|||||align=left||align=left|
In January 2014, he was awarded the Best at Sport award at the British Muslim Awards.[16]