Former British boxerAmir Khan made a noble gesture to a rival who defeated him 19 years ago, after Cuban Mario Kindelan offered to sell him one of his most precious possessions.
The story between these two boxers began in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, when Kindelan defeated Khan for the gold medal. A prize that the Cuban offered to sell Khan for $5,000, so he could build a house for his mother in Cuba.
The Cuban boxing star and the former British champion met at an event in Bahrain, and Khan told details of their encounter in an interview with talkSPORT Fight Night, where he acknowledged that he was saddened by the situation the Olympic medalist and one of the best amateur boxers to come out of Cuba was in.
Khan asks Kindelan to never sell his gold medal
Khan said that he made Kindelan an attractive counter-offer in which he was willing to give him the money on the sole condition that he promise to never sell the gold medal.
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
“Seeing that hurt me. It hurt when he was telling me he didn’t have any money, so I gave him some cash. Then he said, ‘Do you want to buy my gold medal’ At first I thought he was joking, but he said, ‘I really want to sell you my gold medal so I can build my mother a house, my family is very poor and I want to build her a house,'” Amir Khan told talkSPORT Fight Night.
Khan, who in a post on his Instagram account recalled his two amateur boxing fights against Kindelan, one where he beat him in Bolton, before taking the plunge into professional boxing, said he asked him how much the house would cost and he replied $5,000.
“I said, ‘No problem, I’ll give you the $5,000, plus you have to promise me you’ll keep the medal and never sell it to anyone because you won the Olympic gold medal.’ I told him, ‘I would never take that from you because you earned it,'” continued Khan.
Khan noted that he was happy that Kindelan told him his story, because he would never let him sell his gold medal. The money has already been sent and the Briton hopes that he will be able to build his mother a house.