Amir Khan, the former two-time light-welterweight champion, has his sights set on a dream fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr next year.
The British boxer will not fight again this year after a bout against the IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander failed to materialise. Khan says he will spend the rest of the year focusing on training and hoping for the possibility of a box-office bout against Mayweather.
Alexander suggested that Khan pulled out of the proposed fight – Dubai was considered as the host site – because he considered the American a threat to his career and potentially damaging to his chances of landing a future fight against Mayweather.
“It’s not true that I cancelled the fight because I did not want to face him, but the negotiations between our teams did not end with an agreement,” Khan said.
“Devon decided to fight Shawn Porter instead [in Texas on Saturday] and my team and I decided it’s best I don’t fight this year, but rather work on my training. I have been working very hard with [trainer] Virgil Hunter, improving myself as a better fighter.”
Khan, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist whose professional record is 28-3, currently fights at the 140lbs (63.5kg) light-welterweight division. He will have to move up to welterweight (147lbs) or possibly the light-middleweight (154lbs) class to fight Mayweather.
“I agree it will be a disadvantage for me to a certain point, and on paper, as I have not fought a fight at this weight,” he said. “I wanted to fight Devon Alexander this year. But I feel 147lbs or 154lbs is my natural weight.
“I have struggled to keep 140lbs and I should’ve moved to 147lbs a long time ago.
“But I feel fit and strong so far at 147. I have been training very hard for the past 8-10 weeks. My next fight will be in May 2014, and I hope it’s against Mayweather.
“My team are working to make this happen, but I am not focusing on it. My aim is to focus on my training and get as fitter and stronger as I can.”
After Manny Pacquiao beat Brandon Rios last week, Khan’s former trainer Freddie Roach, now with Pacquiao, suggested the Filipino fighter would be a far more lucrative pay-per-view (PPV) draw if paired with Mayweather. Khan disagrees.
“I have a lot of respect for Freddie and Manny, he is a good friend of mine,” Khan said. “For sure, Manny is a very popular fighter in the US and around the world, but so am I. I am a Muslim Pakistani-British and there are a lot of Muslims in the US and around the world, and Muslims always support a fellow Muslim.
“I am very grateful to have amazing support in Britain and among Asians around the world. I would say Mayweather, Manny and myself are the most popular boxers in the game. I mean, you can tell that from our Twitter followers. That says it all.”
Mayweather is two bouts into a six-fight, US$300 million (Dh1.1 billion) contract with US broadcaster Showtime. It was rumoured that Showtime actually lost money on the PPV sales from the first fight in the contract, May’s bout against Robert Guerrero at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Therefore, they might want to pair Mayweather with a high-profile opponent for his next fight.
“I can say, there are only two fighters who can get in the PPV revenue, that is myself or Manny,” Khan said. “I am fast, I am a kind of fighter Mayweather has never faced. It’s not [just] me, but the whole world wants to see this fight happen, they want to see if Mayweather can stand in the ring and fight a fighter as fast as me or Manny.
“I am very confident that I can give him some real trouble. He defends well, but he has never defended against someone as fast as me. My hand speed and power will beat him.”
Khan would consider taking on former sparring partner Pacquiao, which some fans would argue is a more exciting fight on paper.
“Manny is a great fighter, he is a good friend, you never know, I never say no to anyone,” Khan said. “If it’s possible, I will fight Manny.
“Mayweather is the top fighter, he is undefeated and I want to be the one to defeat him, and with my speed, I can cause him some real trouble. Now it’s up to him and his team to come forward and set it up.”
Before the Alexander fight was shelved, Khan said he wanted to stage the fight in Dubai. In July, he said he thought the UAE could follow the path of Las Vegas and become a global boxing destination. The last high-profile bout in the UAE was in 1997, when former super middleweight king Chris Eubank beat Camilo Alarcon at Dubai’s tennis stadium.
“Boxing is a global sport, we saw Manny and Rios had a successful fight in China, it’s an exciting sport,” he said. “It has never been to the Middle East in such a big scale [as the Pacquiao fight], so if that could be possible, I would want to fight in Dubai.
“I wanted to fight Devon Alexander in Dubai, but he and his team did not agree to it, so that did not happen, but you never know in the future.”
sports@thenational.ae
BELGIUM%20SQUAD
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The%20specs
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ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
A meeting of young minds
The 3,494 entries for the 2019 Sharjah Children Biennial come from:
435 – UAE
2,000 – China
808 – United Kingdom
165 – Argentina
38 – Lebanon
16 – Saudi Arabia
16 – Bangladesh
6 – Ireland
3 – Egypt
3 – France
2 – Sudan
1 – Kuwait
1 – Australia
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20myZoi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Syed%20Ali%2C%20Christian%20Buchholz%2C%20Shanawaz%20Rouf%2C%20Arsalan%20Siddiqui%2C%20Nabid%20Hassan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2037%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Initial%20undisclosed%20funding%20from%20SC%20Ventures%3B%20second%20round%20of%20funding%20totalling%20%2414%20million%20from%20a%20consortium%20of%20SBI%2C%20a%20Japanese%20VC%20firm%2C%20and%20SC%20Venture%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Sunday's games
All times UAE:
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 4pm
Manchester City v Arsenal, 6.15pm
Everton v Watford, 8.30pm
Chelsea v Manchester United, 8.30pm
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The biog
Name: Gul Raziq
From: Charsadda, Pakistan
Family: Wife and six children
Favourite holes at Al Ghazal: 15 and 8
Golf Handicap: 6
Childhood sport: cricket
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
The biog
Family: Parents and four sisters
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing at American University of Sharjah
A self-confessed foodie, she enjoys trying out new cuisines, her current favourite is the poke superfood bowls
Likes reading: autobiographies and fiction
Favourite holiday destination: Italy
Posts information about challenges, events, runs in other emirates on the group's Instagram account @Anagowrunning
Has created a database of Emirati and GCC sportspeople on Instagram @abeermk, highlight: Athletes
Apart from training, also talks to women about nutrition, healthy lifestyle, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure
