Amir Khan in Bolton as he launches Fight For Your Life

Now retired Amir spoke to The Bolton News, while surprising the Polish National Boxing team,  at his gym in Bolton.

While back on home soil, Amir paid a visit to the Amir Khan Academy, currently run by the Round4Round boxing project, where he watched young boxers from Poland’s national boxing team and sparred with them.

Amir spoke about how far the academy had come since opening to get young people off the streets and into the gym and praised Round4Round for their campaigning and coaching.

He said: “It’s always good to come back to the gym, it’s somewhere I started my career off.

“It’s good to see that the gym is busy every day and it’s keeping probably 60 kids off the streets every day.

“These are kids who are burning their energy off in the gym and that makes me very happy because they could be on the streets misbehaving.

“I think what’s going to keep kids off the street, is boxing.”

The Olympic medalist boxer did not plan on getting into boxing as a kid, but was dragged by his dad to train and ended up loving it.

He said: "I remember the days I used to come in the gym and train and now I am retired but still it is good to see that these kids are going through the same programme that I went through.

"I used to train in a place where it was leaking with water and it was raining all the time, so the electrics would go off.

"So, that's how I started and then as time went off I went to America, trained in bigger gyms then opened my own academy because I thought what boxing has done for me, I want to give back."

Amir spoke about the crime in Bolton and how the Round4Round team were working to help combat knife crime.

He said: “I read recently that someone was stabbed in Bolton, but these kids are here in the gym being disciplined and this is what boxing is doing for them.

“It upsets me sometimes that our community has become like this now.

“Ash, Nas and Abbas put this all together and look at it now, you never hear any complaints and this whole area has changed where more people are off the streets.

“You don’t see kids hanging out on the streets around the gym anymore, they’d rather be here.

“It’s like you have your own little family here.”

Amir is set to stay in the UK for a few more days as he tours the country for his book Fight For Your Life promotion and explained what people could expect from the book.

“I love being in Bolton, I am born and bred in Bolton, so Bolton is everything to me.

“What the community has done for me and what the people are like here, it’s amazing.”

“I have explained everything, the good times, the bad times, the hard times, the wins and the losses.

“People want to know the behind the scenes and what life was like for me, so I tell my whole story here and while I’m here, I want to come to the gym because I like to see the kids.”

Coach at Round4Round Ashif Ashik said the idea for the Polish National team came when another head coach said he had connections in Poland.

He said: "So, our other head coach George mentioned he had some connections in Poland, so we got in touch and they said they would love to come down.

"I think they were fantastic, you have lot's of different styles, lots of explosiveness and the fighters were very regimented, very respectful and they had a good time.

"At Round4Round we want to make an impact and make a difference so part of that is diversity and culture.

"Not only working from people in Bolton but to reach out more and I am sure this is one of many teams that will come down to Bolton."