LONDON, March 31: Amir Khan has been granted a dream rematch with the man who denied him gold at the Athens Olympics, Cuban great Mario Kindelan.
The long awaited showdown between Britain’s teenage boxing sensation and the wily Cuban veteran will take at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium on April 30.
Kindelan will first face off with Birmingham’s newly-crowned ABA lightweight champion Frankie Gavin in a Four Nations versus Cuba clash at Liverpool Olympia on April 8 and then travel with the Cuban team for a scheduled match in Ireland on April 15.
He is now due to return for a one-off meeting with Khan on April 30 in aid of the British fighter’s amateur club Bury ABC, which is based near Bolton in Lancashire, north-west England.
Khan said on Thursday: “I know where I went wrong in the Olympics and I’m confident next time I can change the result.
“It will be my first ever fight in Bolton so it is going to be a great occasion and I am looking forward to it.”
Neither Khan nor promoter Frank Warren would confirm if the bout would be the 18-year-old’s last as an amateur but Warren added: “The confusion has now been resolved and we are all pleased this fight is happening.
“I would rather he didn’t take it but whatever the result, you have got to admire Amir because this is the fight he wants.”
Khan was one of the revelations of the Athens Games, losing only in the final to the 33-year-old Kindelan in his bid to become the youngest gold medallist, at the age of 17, since Floyd Patterson in Helsinki in 1952. — AFP
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