By Gari Jones: Amir Khan WBA Light Welterweight Champion took on the undefeated Irishman Paul McCloskey on the 16/4/2011. Khan won the fight in the sixth round he was good, but he wasn’t all that impressive. Here’s my round by round analysis of the encounter.

Round 1: Khan gets off to a good start, McCloskey keeping his hands down inviting Khan to come forward. Throughout the round Khan landed a couple of good combinations but no telling damage is done. Khan is using the jab but is mostly hitting fresh air as McCloskey’s unusual SOUTHPAW style is proving troublesome for Khan. Bell Rings 10-9 Khan

Round 2: First 30 seconds Khan comes out and after a brief pause starts swinging, as McCloskey seems to be afraid of making the first move, Khan lands with several shots but they mostly graze the side of McCloskey. Khan is winning the round as he keeps trying to come inside, but McCloskey is keeping a cool head and lands a decent right hand. Khan’s speed is the difference maker here, at times he’s throwing punch after punch but not much is landing as McCloskey is fighting at range and is reacting quick enough to avoid being hit. Bell Rings 10-9 Khan

Round 3: Khan comes out and still can’t quite size McCloskey up as some of his jabs and crosses hit nothing but air. McCloskey is still making Khan miss by fighting at range, but soon Khan lands a nice one two as McCloskey finds he can’t dodge Khan’s fast hands all day. McCloskey is not doing enough to win the round but lands a left cross mid way through the 3rd. Khan is winning the fight as he is the busier man, but despite McCloskey not being willing to trade Khan seems to be struggling with the southpaw. Bell Rings Khan 10-9

Round 4: Much better boxing from Khan as he combines well with crosses and hooks and lands a nice left hand body shot. McCloskey is looking more assertive as he throws a couple of right hands but misses, Khan is trying to measure his opponent up as McCloskey comes in and throws a wild left but goes down, it’s not a knockdown as the ref rules it a push. Khan seems fired up by the slip as he lands a couple of nice jabs with incredible speed but McCloskey covers up well. McCloskey is proving very elusive, despite Khan ending strongly he isn’t landing anything telling. Round Ends Khan 10-9

Round 5: Khan comes out and is looking very confident; straight away Khan throws good fast combinations but McCloskey is just tucking his head down to and nothing is really landing. McCloskey beginning to trade with Khan as he gets in close and throws an uppercut and a few hooks, Khan answers back with jabs, hooks and uppercuts of his own. Khan looks the better boxer but neither is landing anything telling, it’s beginning to look like a sparring session for Khan. A brief pause in the action, but Khan lands with a nice one two combo. Bell Rings Khan 10-9

Round 6: McCloskey looking unhurt but seems a bit tired as he’s sitting in his corner taking in heavy breaths, Khan’s multiple shots are having some effect on the tough Irishmen. Slow start to the round as khan comes forward and throws a jab – cross but McCloskey keeps ducking and makes Khan miss again. Mid-Way through the round McCloskey looks stunned; Khan lands a nice right cross, Khan is coming in close throwing shots to the body, nothing is coming back from McCloskey, Khan is looking to finish the fight there but McCloskey survives. McCloskey shrugs his shoulders showing he wasn’t hurt by that onslaught.

Khan and McCloskey have accidentally clash heads and McCloskey has a cut on the inside of his left eye, the ref has called in the doctor to take a look AND ITS OVER. McCloskey is declared unfit to continue, due to accidental clash of heads. The judges score the fight 60-54 to Amir Khan as a Technical Unanimous Decision Points Win.

Final Thoughts: Khan produced a good display against a very awkward southpaw, the hand speed; technical skill and defence were all there as Khan continues to improve and show consistency under Freddie Roach. The fight may have ended under unfortunate circumstances, but Khan was the much busier man and always looked the likely winner.

I’m a little disappointed by Khan’s lack of telling shots on McCloskey, he had numerous chances to launch an offensive strike on Paul but seemed at times to be hitting air or just grazing McCloskey. A number of times I thought to myself Khan could’ve tried an uppercut as McCloskey was ducking with his hands down quite a number of times in the fight. Also However McCloskey was a very elusive fighter and a southpaw with one of the weirdest styles I’ve seen, that did seem to throw Khan off balance a bit.

Next Opponent: Timothy Bradley has been mentioned. Khan will need to pull out a much better display than the one he has done against McCloskey, as Bradley is a much more capable and of higher calibre than McCloskey.