By William Mackay: If unbeaten Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s) can survive what will likely be an early all out blitz by WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 12 KO’s), Barry McGuigan believes that the 31-year-old McCloskey can win this fight. McGuigan notes that the 24-year-old Khan has had problems with southpaws, and McCloskey isn’t easy to hit because of his elusive style of fighting.
Khan vs. McCloskey
Bradley thinks he’d beat Maidana, Morales and Khan
By William Mackay: Unbeaten light hitting WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) thinks he has what it takes to beat Marcos Maidana, Erik Morales and Amir Khan. He wouldn’t mind fighting any of that bunch next, and is prepared to wait until next year to fight Khan if need be. He’s supposed to be fighting Khan, 24, in July of this year but he’s not going to chase him if Khan acts evasive and decides to take on other fighters.
Warren: McCloskey-Khan is not a Pay-per-view event
By William Mackay: Frank Warren, the previous promoter for WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s), doesn’t feel that Khan’s fight with Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s) this Saturday night is a pay-per-view event without a good undercard to bolster the card. Warren points out that Khan’s team fail to understand that the card isn’t worthy of being put as a PPV. The fight was previously on Sky pay-per-view, but when the best undercard fights fell apart, it left a bunch of lesser known fighters taking on totally obscure opponents.
Roach has a great plan for Khan to beat McCloskey
By Sean McDaniel: Freddie Roach, the trainer of WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s), reportedly has a good plan that he will have Khan employ against challenger Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s) on Saturday night in their fight at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England.
McCloskey thinks Khan may be damaged from Maidana bout
By William Mackay: Unbeaten Irish light welterweight contender Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s) thinks that WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) may have been damaged from all the punishment he suffered in his last fight against knockout artist Marcos Maidana (30-2, 27 KO’s) last year in December.
Khan says Sky will be wishing they had the McCloskey fight, I’m a big box office fighter
By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) thinks that Sky Sports will be sorry that they didn’t keep his fight against Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s) on Sky pay-per-view this Saturday rather than moving it to Sky 3, which is a non-PPV channel. Khan promises to beat McCloskey by convincingly manner in front of what will likely be a sold out M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England.
McCloskey: I’m going to shock the world by beating Khan this weekend
By Jason Kim: In looking at some of the fights of Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s) it’s easy to see why WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) picked him out to fight on Saturday at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England. McCloskey, 31, lacks power, hand speed or defensive ability. He’s there to be hit, not powerful and very slow. In other words, he’s the perfect opponent for Khan because he’s not much of a threat to land anything hard on Khan’s chin and have him staggering around the ring like he was in his last bout against Marcos Maidana in December.
Khan says it could be a long time before he fights in England again
By Sean McDaniel: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) may not be fighting in England anytime soon after this Saturday’s fight against the little known Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s) at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. Khan isn’t happy that Sky Sports decided to move his fight off of PPV and put it on Sky 3, which isn’t PPV. Khan’s fight with McCloskey will still be shown on PPV, though, because Khan moved his bout off of Sky completely and switched it to Primetime PPV. However, he’s not happy that Sky didn’t keep it on PPV.
Khan insists that he’s still a PPV attraction in the UK
By Dan Ambrose: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan’s fight with Paul McCloskey was moved from Sky pay-per-view to Sky 3 after two of the undercard’s better fights went up in smoke. Khan rather than seeing the benefit of fighting in front of 600,000 to 700,000 potential Sky Sports subscribers opted to move his fight to Primetime PPV. However, one of the reasons that Sky opted to switch Khan’s fight from PPV to Sky 3 was the poor pre-fight sales of the PPV bout.
McCloskey says he knows he can beat Khan
By Sean McDaniel: Unbeaten EBU light welterweight champion Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s) feels that he has the physical tools to pull off a huge upset on Saturday night against WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s). McCloskey was picked out personally by Khan, who after nearly being knocked out in his last fight against Marcos Maidana last December, was looking for a softer touch. McCloskey is the soft touch that Khan picked.