Amir Khan revealed what happened when sparring eight-weight boxing legend Manny Pacquiao when the pair shared the same stable with Freddie Roach.
The Bolton man, currently preparing to face UK rival Kell Brook this weekend, described competitive training sessions between the pair.
Khan and Pacquiao got in shape together at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles on many occasions when they shared the world-famous coach.
MANNY PACQUIAO
“They were wars. We’d go to war with each other. The whole gym would stop and watch,” Khan told Square Mile. Read in full HERE.
“People on the bags would stop and watch. Manny was training for the Oscar De La Hoya fight.
“We helped each other. That’s what boxing is all about.
“Even though sometimes you have to put your friendship aside and fight each other. You have to be ruthless.”
Pacquiao defeated De La Hoya in a Pay Per View event to secure his legacy in the sport. It represented one of his best career performances.
After the one-sided loss, De La Hoya subsequently retired to concentrate solely on promoting fighters, including Khan.
Khan worked with his old boss a few years later after leaving Golden Boy Promotions. De La Hoya picked out the former super-lightweight ruler to face middleweight star, Canelo Alvarez.
In a wipeout victory, Khan got planted prone on the canvas in the sixth round. The Briton certainly holds no regrets about giving away so much weight to this day.
“It’s part of the fighting game,” Khan pointed out in the Square Mile exclusive. “I tried to go up a couple of weight categories to fight one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
“That will always be in the history books. With Canelo, there’s no regret because if I didn’t take that fight, I would have always thought, ‘what would have happened?’
“It made me realize that in boxing, there are weight divisions for a purpose. I’m glad I could come back from a fight like that.”
