Fans hail Amir Khan’s amazing gesture after he reunites with the man who beat him for 2004 Olympic gold
AMIR KHAN amazingly gave his former Olympic rival Mario Kindelan $5,000 towards a new house.
Kindelan is a legend of the amateur code, winning two gold medals at the Games and three World Championships.
He famously beat a then-17-year-old Khan in the 2004 Athens Olympics but they rematched a year later.
Despite still being an amateur contest, it was aired on ITV and drew an astonishing 6.3 million viewers.
Khan would go onto become a legend of British boxing, reigning as unified light-welterweight champion.
He faced some of boxing’s biggest stars in Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, retiring in 2022 following defeat to bitter enemy Kell Brook.
Kindelan meanwhile was unable to turn professional due to it being banned in his homeland of Cuba.
The rule was introduced by Fidel Castro in 1962 and restricted Cubans to amateur boxing.
Only last year was the ban lifted but it proved too late for Kindelan, now aged 52.
The Olympic icon reunited with Khan at an event in Bahrain and offered to sell him his gold medal to held buy his mother a home.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFER
Khan rejected it and instead donated the $5,000 (£3,900) sum to Kindelan.
He said on talkSPORT: “It was sad to see in a three-time World Amateur Champion, one of the best amateurs ever to come out of Cuba and two-time Olympic gold medallist.
“To see that, it hurts me. It hurt me when he was telling me that he had no money, so I gave him some cash.
“He then said, ‘Do you wanna buy my gold medal?’ I thought he was joking at first.
“But he said, ‘I really wanna sell you my gold medal so I can build my mother a house, the family’s really poor and I wanna build a house for her.’
‘CLASS ACT’
“I asked him how much the house was gonna be and he said it was gonna be $5,000.
“I said, ‘No problem, I’ll give you the $5,000, plus you have to promise me that you’ll keep the medal and never sell it to someone because you won the Olympic gold medal.’
“I said, ‘I’d never take that from you because you earned that.’
“I’m very happy that he told me the story because I would never let him sell that gold medal, and he’s promised me he won’t now.
“I’ve sent him the money and hopefully he can build his mother’s house now.”
Khan – who runs several charity foundations – was hailed by fans for his incredible gesture.
One said: “Class act Amir.”
Another added: “Top man Amir. Absolute class.”