It's an incongruous scene.
A 20-year-old British Muslim from Bolton, dressed in a leather motorbike jacket, is standing amid the Art Deco glamour and millionaire tourists of the Savoy Hotel, talking animatedly about a 65-year-old African-American thousands of miles away.
 Khan is getting physically stronger with each passing day |
But Amir Khan is not intimidated by the stern-faced hotel lackeys in their waistcoats and tails, nor the polished granite bust of Winston Churchill signalling "V for victory" over his left shoulder.
It's Muhammad Ali's birthday. And that, to Khan, means a great deal.
"The man," he states with solid authority, "is a legend. He's always been my hero. Inside the ring, he put boxing on the map - a great fighter, full of skills.
"He'd scare fighters before they even got in the ring with his sheer confidence. Outside the ring he was a great, great character.
"I've watched all his fights, and every time you watch one you learn something new. Nobody has done more for the sport."
Khan still has a poster of Ali on his bedroom wall, showing the great man leaning over the stricken Sonny Liston after flooring him with the famous "phantom punch" in Maine in 1965.
 Ali roars, Liston is floored |
"It has given me inspiration for years," he says. "I actually met him a few months ago, and that was great. Shaking his hand meant a lot to me and my family.
"Just sitting down next to him and chatting was enough.
"I gave him some of my gloves, he gave me a hug. I was happy with the handshake he gave me - that was a gift in itself.
"Just meeting Ali, especially with the illness he's got and how busy he is, spending time with him - it was just him and his minder and us, at the Ali Centre - it was just awesome."
It's tempting to attempt to draw parallels between Ali and Khan - both Olympic medallists, both famously fast and cocky in the ring and both dedicated Muslims.
But such comparisons are unfair on the young Briton.
Ali is still loved and respected around the world precisely because he was unique, a one-off explosion of brains, brawn and bravado that changed the sporting and cultural landscape.
Khan is a richly-talented boxer, a probable future world champion and an unwitting symbol of modern British multiculturalism.
And that, for a young man just out of his teens, is probably enough to be dealing with for the time being.
So far, he seems to be coping okay with the pressures of sporting fame.
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He's turned down the offers of roles in Bollywood films, publicly stated that he'll ignore all female charms until he's married and continues to live at home with his parents and brother Haroon. His parents even make him do chores round the house - but as Ricky Hatton once pointed out, "When you're a young fighter, you don't want people blowing smoke up your backside."
There is the charge of dangerous driving that hangs over him, with a court date set for April.
That apart, Khan is well aware of the dangers that could lie ahead - and those that derailed even a man as astute as his hero.
"Boxing's one of those things where you jump in the ring and you're addicted," he says.
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"You can get to a stage when you still think you've got it in you, but you'll be getting hurt, taking more shots than you should be taking.
"I want to achieve my goals, but as soon as I achieve them, that's it - I'll just hang my gloves up.
"My family and coach Oliver Harrison will help tell me when, but I'll be done at 27, 28. That's still young for a sportsman, but after I peak, that'll be me done."
With a glance at his designer watch, Khan poses for a final round of photos under the glassy-eyed portraits of Harold Chamberlain, Alex Douglas-Home and Harold Wilson which hang on the Savoy's walls.
Then he's off, jumping into a black cab for the short journey across London to Euston, and the long train journey back to Bolton.
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