Aamir Khan

Khan pondering boxing retirement

The former unified light-welterweight world champion returns to action in Jeddah against the unheralded Goyat, a first outing since losing in six rounds against WBO welterweight king Terence Crawford in New York in April.

That was the fifth defeat of a professional career showing 33 wins and clashes with a host of big names.

Khan, 32, still has designs on facing old Wild Card stablemate Manny Pacquiao and long-time domestic rival Kell Brook but has pledged to assess his performance against former MMA fighter Goyat honestly.

Khan ready to 'go to war' with Vargas

The former unified super-lightweight world champion should be in for a bigger test than his first bout for almost two years, a 40-second knockout of Phil Lo Greco in April.

Vargas has called Khan an "old man" and vowed to knock the Briton out at Arena Birmingham on September 8.

Yet Khan expects to reap the rewards of a first full training camp under Joe Goossen and make a statement to his rivals.

Khan urges Joshua to fight in USA

That is the view of British compatriot Amir Khan, who said the heavyweight star needed to raise his profile in the US to become a "global star".

Khan has fought several times in the States, most recently against Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in Las Vegas, where the Mexican scored a sixth-round knockout in May 2016.

But it was a big-money bout for Khan and brought with it the kind of attention that he feels Joshua – who faces Joseph Parker on March 31 in Cardiff – would easily attract if he showed off his skills for a stateside audience.

Joshua brushes off Khan rumours

It was initially unclear whether Khan had been hacked as a series of messages from his official Twitter account detailed an apparent split with wife Faryal.

Khan's verified account and a Twitter page purportedly belonging to Faryal duly traded insults and accusations, with the latter said to have "moved up in the weight classes" to see Joshua. Faryal's tweets were later deleted.

Seemingly eager to distance himself from any involvement in the controversy, Joshua responded by tweeting a clip from the video for Shaggy's famous single 'It Wasn't Me'.