AMIR KHAN: I'M OFF

AMIR KHAN is being driven out of Britain by rival fans and fighters jealous of his ring success.

The WBA light-welterweight champion has trained in Los Angeles for a year and could make the move permanent.

Khan still lives with parents Shah and Falak in Bolton. But he admitted: "I'd like to live in LA eventually because it's getting tough to live in Britain.

"People appreciate what you achieve in America whereas you don't see that in Britain.

"I see a lot of bitterness and jealousy. I love the British public and it would be very hard to leave them, but my career comes first. Whatever move I need to make I will do."

Khan won his world title by outpointing Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik in July and spends two months before every fight at his Hollywood training camp.

He added: "In America I've not come across any hate. People have come to me and said, 'We want to look after you, you're a world champion'.

"And I think to myself, 'Do these guys want something from me? Why are they so nice?'

"Clothing designer Christian Audigier wanted to see me, I met him and he kitted me out with clobber. I'm not going to complain. That's the difference in LA.

"That's the way they are and now I know why they back their fighters up every time. They back their fighter, no matter who it's against."

Khan, 22, is desperate to forge a fight career in the United States and plans to box there after making his first world title defence against New Yorker Dmitriy Salita in Newcastle on December 5.

Khan lives in the same apartment block as rap kings P Diddy and Snoop Dogg while he is training at Freddie Roach's Wild Card gym.

Ex-pat Jason Statham regularly watches him train while David Beckham, Daniel Craig, Vinnie Jones and Robbie Williams have asked to watch British boxing's rising star put through his paces.

Khan said: "It's funny, P Diddy and Snoop speak to me and I'll be star-struck when I meet them. I find it kind of weird how big these guys are yet they're fans of me.

"They know who I am. They've done the same thing as me when you think about it. They've been working since day one and have got bigger and bigger.

"It has taken a long time and a lot of hard work. People forget and think it's easy. They don't see me waking up at 5am and going running, do my steps, do all the hard work.

"They don't see my injuries, the pain, the aches and the bad side of it.

"They just see the easy side of it, after a fight when you chill, buy a nice car, a nice house. You can make a lot of money from boxing and they only see that part and I think that's the reason in England there's a lot of bitterness."

Despite growing popularity, Khan is still booed by a small minority of fans and has been on the receiving end of verbal barbs from WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch and British lightweight title-holder John Murray.

Amir, beaten just once in 22 fights, told Sport of the World: "Froch is a very bitter person. I've never spoken badly about him or about Murray.

"I'm a fighter and there's a lot of jealousy in British boxing. It's a mixture of everything, random people on the streets."

Khan was stunned by the reception he got when he returned to Roach's last month for the first time since his faultless points win over Kotelnik.

He was greeted by a wall with pictures of his triumphs with the Union Jack and Pakistan flags hanging proudly.

He said: "They wanted me to take my world title belt over there and I was kind of shy. I didn't want to take it there and have people thinking I was being big-headed.

"But I took it in the box because someone wanted to see it and I kept it in the changing room because I was quite embarrassed.

"But I showed it to one guy and he started taking some pictures.

"It made me happy that these guys were so happy for me and they showed me no bitterness. I had guys from Ukraine, where Kotelnik's from, come over to me say, 'Congratulations', can we take a picture of you and the belt? They respect a world champion."

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