Seven years ago, a quietly engaging 17-year-old boy from Bolton was celebrating becoming Britain's youngest-ever Olympic boxing medallist. The lightweight silver Amir Khan won in the Athens ring against the cute and crafty Cuban legend Mario Kindelan was one of the highlights of those refreshingly traditional Games.

Now, at 24, Khan reigns as the world professional light-welterweight champion, holding both the WBA and IBF belts, and with a new mission in life.

He is helping his kid brother Harry go one better in London next year and win Olympic gold - but for Pakistan.

Harry, 20, aka Haroon Iqbal, won a Commonwealth bronze medal in Delhi last year, boxing under the green flag of Pakistan, where his parents were born, because he was overlooked by England despite an impressive amateur record

So when "Baby Khan" went on the win the bronze after defeating Welsh flyweight Andrew Selby (subsequently a European champion for GB) it was an immensely satisfying moment for him.

Haroon hasn't fought since because of an operation to repair a torn tendon in his shoulder, an injury incurred in Delhi. But big brother Amir believes his now bantamweight sibling can go one better than him and win gold in the next Olympics.

But first up is the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan this month, where again Haroon will be representing Pakistan.

Amir tells me: "Harry is now working with top professional trainer Joe Gallagher at my Gloves Community gym in Bolton and looking very sharp.

"I am working out a programme for him, giving him some ideas and tips that helped get me to Athens.

"He is a quick learner and we have really high hopes for him. Our dad Shah even thinks that one day he might be better than me if he dedicates himself as I did."

Ironically, Amir himself had come perilously close to boxing for Pakistan in the 2008 Olympics. The GB selectors initially declined to pick him because they considered him too young at 17. When it became known he had been tapped up by Pakistan there was a swift change of heart. The rest, happily, is history.


Haroon felt he had no choice to box for the country of his family's origins after being turned down by England as "not being good enough."

After his Commonwealth Games debut he said there was no way he would box at the Olympics for Pakistan as he would be turning professional before 2012.

However, if he puts in an Olympic-qualifying performance at the world championships that is exactly what he will be doing in London. After which he will almost certainly swop the five rings for the pro ring, as Amir did.

Haroon is refreshingly honest about why he enjoys boxing. "It's an excuse for throwing punches. I'm not a violent person, but it's a fun sport and it keeps me out of trouble," he says impishly.

Mick Jelley, Amir's esteemed amateur trainer who groomed them both at his celebrated Bury Boxing Club, reckons Haroon has every chance of bettering his brother's Olympic achievement, "providing he puts the work in."

He says: "Haroon says he's a fighter but he can box as well. That's one thing I hope he tries to do - not just think about fighting but think about boxing too.

"It's not just about going forward, it's about going backwards sometimes - he's a clever boxer when he wants to be.

"He's had a bad injury and getting through these Olympic qualifiers is going to be a really hard job and it's entirely up to himself. He's got the ability to get there, but he's got to get fit. Then he stands a chance against anybody."

Boxing has never been short on blood brothers, from the Coopers to the Klitschkos, and though Amir and Haroon are the latest famous names to forge a link with the fight game, there was a time when not everyone in the Khan household was happy about it."

Haroon tells how his mother, Falak, who was so distressed at ringside after witnessing Amir being sensationally stiffened by the Colombian Breidis Prescott three years ago that she had to be given oxygen, asked him to hand her his amateur boxing kit the following day. "Oh thanks mum," he said. "Are you going to wash it for me?"

"No," she replied. "I'm going to bin it. You're finished with boxing."

He told his father what she had said. "Dad had a word and reluctantly she agreed I could carry on - but only if I promised to stay amateur." He admits it is one promise he may be unable to keep if, like Amir, he wins an Olympic medal in 2012, which is his ambition, together with becoming a world champion.


Haroon trained with Amir in Freddie Roach's Wild Card gym in Los Angeles before "King Khan's" last fight, a superb four round demolition of the IBF champion Zab Judah in Las Vegas, arguably the most impressive performance of his career.

Amir has come a long way from that someone shy youngster who stood on the rostrum in Athens, emerging as one of the most personable talents in British, and now global, sport.

And this week, shortly after returning from his third pilgrimage to Mecca, he was accorded the honour of being the only Briton invited by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to a White House dinner with prominent Muslim sports personalities. All the others were from the US.

The occasion was ostensibly to celebrate the end of the religious fasting month of Ramadan but significantly it also coincided with the eve of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 atrocity in New York.

I breakfasted with Amir at a Heathrow hotel before he flew out to Washington for what was clearly a bridge-building occasion. It was, he said, "a tremendous honour to be invited when you think of how many Muslims there are in the world and how many big sports stars there are. When we first got the email, I thought it was a bit of a joke, then when I realised it was genuine, I thought 'Wow!' For this 24-year-old from Bolton to be sitting there with someone like Hilary Clinton, well, it's fantastic.



"It's an opportunity to send out some good messages, for people to respect who we are.

"Obviously a lot of Muslims got a really bad name but a function like this shows that there are many good Muslims in the world, a lot more than there are bad.·In real terms, there are just a handful of bad Muslims. I was only a kid but I was as shocked and appalled as anyone by what happened on that day, as I was with the London bombings in 2005, which I condemned at the time.·I have never been shy of speaking about my religion, though I know there are a lot of Muslim sports personalities who are.·I speak the truth because I am what I am, I've got nothing to hide.

"It's the way I've been brought up.·I have never been afraid of saying I am a Muslim. I also speak out on controversial issues. People respect you more when you are honest."

Khan reads the Koran, attends a mosque on Fridays whenever he can and prays briefly in his corner before the bell. But does not preach or proselytise, and the Khan commitment to Britishness has always been evident from the days his dad supported him in Athens wearing a Union Jack waistcoat.

Over the years, he has hit a few headlines as well as his opponents, admitting he has made a few mistakes along the way "as you do when you are young". But he is adamant that fame, the considerable fortune he has already amassed and the A-list company he keeps in his new boxing base in Hollywood have not turned his head.

"I'm still the same person I always was. I may look arrogant in the ring but I've always been humble. I train a lot with Manny Pacquiao and he is the greatest boxer in the world. Manny is incredibly humble. He is an example to me, and I try to be an example to youngsters back home."

"Baby Khan" could not have a better role model.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire