By Shaun Campbell: Undefeated light-welterweight champion Paul McCloskey (22-0 12ko’s) is set to face WBA champion Amir Khan on the April 16th in an ‘all-British encounter’. There was talk of Khan facing Timothy Bradley in a unification bout, or Junior Witter who said he was willing to move back down to 10 stone to face Khan. And while those fights would have captured interest from the public, many people are disappointed that European lightweight champion John Murray (30-0 18ko’s) wasn’t chosen to face Khan at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester (Murray’s home town).

The two have been on a collision path since Khan’s early days as the commonwealth lightweight champion, and Murray was working his way up the British rankings. However the fight never materialised and Murray was left to capture the British title while Khan moved on to world honours. The Manchester man has been calling out Khan for years and it seemed as if this time, Murray would get his wish, but now the WBA champion will instead face Northern Ireland’s Paul McCloskey. With no disrespect to McCloskey, he is a basic fighter who’s southpaw stance could possibly trouble Khan, as Amir has looked vulnerable to right hooks in the past, but the British public would much have preferred to see Khan and Murray square off. John Murray has a big fan base the likes of which are reminiscing of Ricky Hatton in his early years. His exciting relentless style has meant that he’s never been in a dull fight, and always seems to be able to drag his opponents into a war.

It’s a little disappointing that the fight will probably never happen now as Khan will likely face Timothy Bradley after McCloskey, then move up to welterweight., and while Murray is a massive lightweight, he has no business mixing with welterweights. It would have been a very interesting fight similar to that of Khan’s last fight against Marcos Maidana. The boxer vs the brawler. You have to wonder whether after such a brutal encounter in his last fight, if Khan wanted an easier opponent he can simply outbox without too much coming back in return. Murray hits hard and wears down his opponents, which was the case when he captured the European title against Gary Buckland. The problem is that he has the boxing skills, but elects to have a tear up, he’s not the hardest to hit, which makes him so exciting. It is a shame that Khan and Murray will not be getting in the ring together any time soon, if ever, but hopefully by the end of 2011 they will both be world champions.