By William Mackay: The judges giving junior welterweight champion Paul McCloskey (23-1, 12 KO’s) a gift 12 round decision over Breidis Prescott last September in McCloskey’s home city of Belfast, Northern Ireland seems to have done more harm than good, as the fight was so one-sided in Prescott’s favor that there has been precious few nibbles from big name light welterweights to want to travel to Belfast and find themselves potentially same boat as Prescott.

McCloskey fights high level journeyman DeMarcus Corley (38-19-1, 22 KO’s) next month on May 5th at the Kings Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Corley, 37, is no stranger to losing, so if he gets jobbed like Prescott did, it won’t be quite as jarring given how often the guy has been losing recently. He’s lost six out of his last seven fights, and that’s pretty shocking that McCloskey is fighting him. However, I see Corley as easily beating McCloskey IF the fight were held in a neutral venue. Since it’s not, I see McCloskey winning another Prescott-like decision, which will pretty much make it all but impossible to lure any future quality fighters over to Belfast so they can have a similar type of situation.

McCloskey sees himself in the running for a fight against 38-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez if McCloskey can get by Corley without losing or perhaps not getting another controversial win. McCloskey said to Irish-boxing.com “There has been genuine contact. Bob Arum has mentioned me as a target. They want me because I am a southpaw and they are lining up a fight with Manny [Pacquiao]. Marquez is a legend and a brilliant fighter, but he is not unbeatable. You see how Manyweather gave him so much trouble. So if anyone can get the job done against him it is a guy with a style like mine.”

I think McCloskey is dreaming. Marquez just fought a guy just like McCloskey in Sergey Fedchenko, and he easily beat him by a lopsided 12 round decision. I see McCloskey as a weaker, less offensively skilled version of Fedchenko, and that’s not saying a whole lot. McCloskey would lose badly to Marquez, and it would be incredibly one-sided from start to finish. I don’t see the fight taking place in Belfast, not in a million years. So, McCloskey would have to fly to the United States and fight Marquez in Texas, where McCloskey wouldn’t have a chance. It would be brutally one-sided much in he same way the Prescott-McCloskey was one-sided for most of the rounds. I only gave McCloskey one round in that fight, and yet he won it by a unanimous decision.