Since this past Saturday night, there have been plenty of calls for Bolton star Amir Khan to retire from the sport.

Khan suffered defeat for the fifth time in his career, after losing by way of a sixth round TKO at the hands of WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Crawford, regarded by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in boxing, dropped Khan in the first round and was well ahead when the contest came to a controversial end. Crawford landed a hard low blow on Khan, who took a pass on the five minute recovery period and felt he was too injured to continue any further.

Khan has rejected the possibility of retirement, stating that he still has enough left in the tank to compete at the top level.

He wants to avoid the possibility of announcing his retirement and then returning to the sport.

“I have to be ready to finish. I don’t want to finish thinking ‘Could I have fought again?’ You have to do it at the right time, it has to be a solid decision,” Khan said to The Mirror.

"Retiring at the wrong time would haunt me. I don’t want to retire and then come back. When I call it a day, I call it a day. That’s it.”

Khan admits that his wife and family would rather see him walk away from the sport - but he doesn't plan to do it just yet.

“My wife hates me fighting,” said Khan. “She’s always said it. She’s always afraid. She just says ‘I turn my phone off and I’m always praying and I don’t know what’s happening.’ She hates me boxing and has never been a fan of me being in the ring.

“But it’s just going to be for this one time in my life, and then after that I can spend the rest of my life with my family.

"[My oldest daughter], Lamaisah gets upset when she sees the marks because she understands now and it’s not nice. She is proud of me and I explain to her that this is what hard work is and this is what you have to go through. Everything I do is for them, including getting hit in the face."