By Sean McDaniel: Eddie Hearn, the promoter for failed title challenger Paul McCloskey (22-1, 12 KO’s), is upset with the decision that was made to have the Khan-McCloskey fight halted in the 6th round after the 31-year-old McCloskey suffered a minor cut over his left eye. Hearn isn’t letting the defeat go without complaints, saying this in a recent interview at Sky Sports Ringside:
“There’s a plethora of questions we’d like answering, and we’ll campaign to get the rematch. Will it happen? That’s very unlikely. But since that fight we’ve been speaking to other champions and other fighters for eliminators, so Paul McCloskey has proved he can fight at world level. So it’s our job to make sure he gets another chance, because I think his fans deserve it.”
McCloskey did a better job against Khan than more proven fighters like Andriy Kotelnik and Paulie Malignaggi. McCloskey was able to make Khan miss frequently with his punches. At the time of the stoppage, Khan looked gassed out like he had shot his wad. Khan says that McCloskey was ready to go in the next two rounds. However, McCloskey says he was waiting Khan out until he was tired and was going to go after him in the second half of the fight to knock him out.
The chances of a rematch between McCloskey are pretty much nonexistent. Khan is looking to take on better fighters like Timothy Bradley or Zab Judah, two of the fighters that hold light welterweight titles. Without a title, McCloskey isn’t in the picture for Khan unless McCLoskey can get a title shot against Judah and capture his IBF belt. That’s not going to be easy to land a fight with Judah, because he’s looking for big fights himself and won’t likely wanting to take on the little known McCloskey like Khan did.
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