Amir Khan rejected the chance to buy the Olympic gold medal that he missed out on in 2004 for $5,000.
The former world champion boxer made his breakthrough in the 2004 Olympics in Athens as a 17-year-old as he reached the final in the lightweight division, but was beaten by Cuban Mario Kindelan, who won his second Olympic gold medal.
Khan was recently reunited with his former foe in Bahrain where Kindelan offered to sell the gold medal from that day to Khan for $5,000, in order to finance the building of a house for his mum in their native Cuba.
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However, it was an offer Khan couldn’t accept, he said: "I've just met Mario and got talking to him. He told me a story; he wants to build a house in his country, Cuba, and wanted to sell me the gold medal, the one he beat me for.
"He said, 'Amir, I'm going to give you the gold medal, just give me $5,000'. I told him that the gold medal belongs to him, he's the champion, he beat me in the Olympic final.
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"So I'm going to give him $5,000 to build his house; it's no publicity stunt, it touched my heart. That's how desperate he is, he wants to give away his Olympic gold medal.
"It touched my heart and that's the reason I'm going to give the money to him." Khan added to Kindelan: "I will give you the money for your mother's home but you have to keep the gold medal."
‘King’ Khan fought Kindelan in a rematch of their Olympic final in May of the following year, avenging his defeat before beginning his professional career in July.
The Bolton-born star was a world champion across multiple weight divisions before announcing his retirement in May 2022 after losing to Kell Brook via TKO in February of the same year.
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