By Jason Kim: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) won a controversial 6th round technical decision on Saturday night against Irish challenger Paul McCloskey (22-1, 12 KO’s). The fight was fairly competitive until the 6th when Khan collided heads with McCloskey, opening up a small cut above his eye.
The fight was then quickly stopped without letting McCloskey’s corner even attempt to stop the blood flow in between rounds. The 16,000 fans that had paid to see the fight at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester were less than pleased with the quick stoppage, and let their feelings be known by booing loudly at the results.
One can only imagine what the fans were doing at home who had paid to watch the fight on Primetime PPV. It’s unknown right now how many boxing fans paid fight but many of them might not be so eager to see any of Khan’s future fights after this.
Following the fight, Khan said he wasn’t interested in giving McCloskey a rematch and will instead move on to “Bigger things,” meaning a unification bout with WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley in the summer. That’s a fight that will give Khan a big payday while at the same time give him the opportunity to prove himself as the number #1 fighter in the division.
Khan had problems landing his shots tonight against McCloskey, often missing badly with wild shots. Khan found more success when throwing light shots with more speed in the 4th and 5th, but still continued to miss badly. Khan looked awkward at times, and seemed to lack coordination with his body and his punches.
McCloskey looked to be getting stronger in the 5th and 6th rounds, and it’s hard to tell what he would have been able to do had the head clash not occurred.
Khan can’t be feeling very good right now about this fight, because not only did he miss out on a big payday when Sky chose to move the fight off of PPV, but Khan struggled with a fighter that he should have been able to easily beat. This suggests that Khan might not be as good as some of his fans think he is.
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