McCloskey v Khan back on perhaps

[Feargal....]

http://www.amirkhanworld.com/?p=1132
http://www.amirkhanworld.com/?p=1132
I won't believe it fully till I hear it on McCloskey's twitter.
http://twitter.com/paul_mccloskey

[whiskey]

WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17ko) has ended the speculation about his UK homecoming fight at the Manchester MEN on April 16th.

Unbeaten Irishman Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12ko) rejected several offers, but now a deal has been struck and he will challenge Amir for his title.

Recent days have seen Junior Witter (37-3, 22ko) mentioned as a candidate, but the former WBC champion has a date in Canada against Victor Puiu and stated on Sky's ringside program that he could no longer make the weight, which likely did him no favours.

“I am delighted that this fight has finally been put together following some tough negotiations. This is a matchup the British public want to see and will be a fantastic fight between two of the best light-welterweights in the country.” said Khan.

[lefty]

Im happy this match has been made,i think its a good clash of styles and the fight i wanted to see from the beginning.

[nh1]

Im happy this match has been made,i think its a good clash of styles and the fight i wanted to see from the beginning.

Really can't agree with that. McCloskey's defence is awful. The gulf in class will be embarrassing.

[GlobalBox]

Im happy this match has been made,i think its a good clash of styles and the fight i wanted to see from the beginning.

Agree with you lefty, the Style of McCloskey is something different for Khan to deal with and it will be interesting to see how he copes.

Also think there is still the risk factor as McCloskey picks single shots well and think he hits a little harder than some give him credit for.

That having been said I do favour Khan quite strongly but still find this fight interests me.

[tonyevs]

... but who will pay to watch it?
Especially with the expected piss poor undercard..

Its good a good pay day for McClosky. My only concern is that the atmosphere gets to him and he falls to Khan predictable fast start.

[bfchunk]

The BBC (including quote from McCloskey's manager) are confirming now:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/9388961.stm

[lefty]

Im happy this match has been made,i think its a good clash of styles and the fight i wanted to see from the beginning.

Agree with you lefty, the Style of McCloskey is something different for Khan to deal with and it will be interesting to see how he copes.

Also think there is still the risk factor as McCloskey picks single shots well and think he hits a little harder than some give him credit for.

That having been said I do favour Khan quite strongly but still find this fight interests me.

Oh I agree that Khan should win this,i just think from the names been mentioned that this will be a good fight,mccloskey is a pretty slick boxer in his own right and the european champion and he's undefeated,Some of the people on here seem to want to put khan in with the hardest possible fight and whilst i can understand that if khans gonna fight bradley in the summer i dont have a problem with him having a slightly easier fight like this.

[Adam1991]

wont go further than the 3rd FACT!

[whiskey]

Stream me thinks.

Not pay £15 on top of my Sky Sports package for this.

No chance I'm fuelling Khan's greed.

[housesecond]

I think this is a pretty good fight if Paul gets through the early rounds.

I won't pay for it though, don't wanna line the Khan camps pockets.

[tonyevs]

I think Boxingchat had something when he said the Khans needed Hearn to help with the promo of this .. The Witter fight was never going to sell. Junior struggled to sell when he was at the top
Lets hope that McCloskey is being well paid without too many of the risky options that were mentioned by his own people previously ..

Unfortunatly I see this over within 2-3rnds. McCloskey won`t be able to contain Khan in the early rounds, and Khan won`t be looking to go further than 5rnds with a hand picked opponent.

[Finn]

I cant see this fight selling, unless theres a really good undercard. I personally wont pay to watch khan v mccloskey on its own.

Any rumours who else may be on the bill?

[big lennox]

What an April coming up:

Khan against over matched McCloskey and;

Klitschko vs over matched Chirosa.

Zzzz.

I'll not be paying for the Khan fight, and will probably watch the Klitchko ko win on youtube.

What a waste. I hope Haye can entice Vitali into the ring at some point this year.

[lefty]

What an April coming up:

Khan against over matched McCloskey and;

Klitschko vs over matched Chirosa.

Zzzz.

I'll not be paying for the Khan fight, and will probably watch the Klitchko ko win on youtube.

What a waste. I hope Haye can entice Vitali into the ring at some point this year.

who could khan of fought though out of all the names mentioned that wouldnt of been overmatched?!Peterson in my opinion is a pretty average fighter,murray is a good fighter but i think khan would box his head off and witter well he's well past his sell by date and has said he cant make 140 anymore!

[Finn]

What an April coming up:

Khan against over matched McCloskey and;

Klitschko vs over matched Chirosa.

Zzzz.

I'll not be paying for the Khan fight, and will probably watch the Klitchko ko win on youtube.

What a waste. I hope Haye can entice Vitali into the ring at some point this year.

who could khan of fought though out of all the names mentioned that wouldnt of been overmatched?!Peterson in my opinion is a pretty average fighter,murray is a good fighter but i think khan would box his head off and witter well he's well past his sell by date and has said he cant make 140 anymore!

i cant knock khan for taking an easier fight after the ones he's had. i just dont think its ppv worthy.. Although i did complain when they did the whole britain versus the world night, bought it at the last mintue, and it turned out to be one of the best ppv buys ive ever had.

[sendo]

Yeah my only complaint is that it's ppv, no way is it competitive enough to be ppv. Has Khan really proven enough to start milking the fans again for every fight?

[Poncey]

Not pay £15 on top of my Sky Sports package for this.

X2

[bennie]

Amir Khan won few friends as he serened his way back from the States for a defence of his WBA light-welterweight title in Manchester in April and, given the distance, immediately dumped a conditioning coach in Los Angeles who had developed real strength in his legs over the last 18 months, a decent man by the name of Alex Ariza.
The arrogant Bolton boy is certainly no Carl Thompson, the humble, iron-jawed Bolton man who once thumped David Haye, but Khan's own jaw (and his legs) surprisingly got him through a war against Argentine puncher and mandatory challenger Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas in December. The task of finding a voluntary challenger in April then proved almost just as hard.
One by one, the lovely Khan and his team rejected a hatful of legitimate opponents because, allegedly, they wanted a few quid for showing up. In the end, Khan agreed to defend against a man he had ruled out a week or so earlier: Northern Ireland southpaw Paul McCloskey. Exciting? McCloskey is strong, clever and, of course, unbeaten, which the same TV 'suits' who grassed up Andy Gray and Richard Keys for essentially nothing always blindly insist upon, but star appeal hardly exudes from the challenger.
McCloskey is a mucker, nothing more, nothing less, a solid fighter who failed a litmus test against Giuseppe Lauri two fights ago at the King's Hall in Belfast where he needed 11 sloppy rounds to finish the Italian, a man Ricky Hatton and Junior Witter had finished much earlier and much more impressively, but then, they would have beaten Khan in their pomp, and everyone in the world knows that McCloskey is not going to do so.
Yes, the burly McCloskey can whack a bit, which will result in the predictable puncher's chance lines, and yes, he is effective at domestic level; however, Khan rose above domestic level a long time ago and can whack a bit himself. He also has a huge edge in speed and, quite simply, in ability. As much as I dislike saying this, because I have nothing against "Dudey" Paul while Khan comes across as aloof and rather glum, Khan is just the better fighter.

[stujones]

Agree generally with your preview Bennie, although I wouldn't agree that Lauri has been the highest level opponent McCloskey has faced. I would place Garnacia and the version of Bezan that he faced on the same level as Lauri. I think motivational levels and Lauri's style gave McCloskey problems, but he found a way.

Some big calls on how Khan would have done with two of our best modern Light Welters in their pomp. I agree on Hatton, disagree on Witter.

But agree, I don't give McCloskey a chance, a bit of a shame really cause there are a few British based fighters in or around the top 10 now. Hope McCloskey doesn't get embarrased and can face the likes of Olusegun and Witter (who now can make 140) at a later date.

[Dioufy]

I'll go with the concensus on this. McCloskey is an okay opponent for Khan after the Maidana war, but I gotta pay £15 big ones to see it, on top of my Sky subs? No way Pedro. I have yet to buy a Khan fight, and I'm not going to start now.

[jessi]

anyone on this site who wont pay £14.95 to watch the chisora v klitscho or khan v mccloskey fight is a cheap charlie who should be ashamed to call themselfs a boxing fan !
you couldent park at the m.e.n for that price or buy 4 pints inside for that matter, no excuses, i cant even believe your on this site in the first place.

[Dioufy]

£15 is a lot to some people, matey.

[GlobalBox]

I may well be spectacularly wrong but I give McCloskey a real shout in this fight and am really looking forward to it.

The Maidana fight proved me wrong in a lot of ways and not always in favour of Khan.

I felt if Maidana hit Khan regularly enough in any one round he would dump Khan on the canvas and out, that was clearly wrong.

I also felt that Maidana would not pierce Khan's defence enough to complete the above, that was wrong he did do so on a number of ocassions and particularly in the 10th.

Always thought no one would outpoint Khan due to his high output and very decent defence but Maidana got close enough on the cards to put a dent in that argument as well.

McCloskey does not have the speed to outpoint Khan in my book, Amir will or can pepper him from angles that would enable him to take most completed rounds in a 12 round fight therefore I cannot see him winning on points.

However, McCloskey has a very good single punch pick in my view and I still believe that one shot can (and will in the future) put Khan on queer street, if McCloskey stays in the pocket whilst Khan is shooting off his quick combinations, I think there is a reasonable chance he can land flush on Khan and possibly create at least one opportunity from Khan being hurt to finish the fight.

Yes I agree its about levels but McCloskey is only in theory the one level below Khan at present, Euro to world, we really don't know how good McCloskey is, dont feel he has really been stretched. I like the fight and will be buying it but fully respect everyones right to kiss it off.

[bigjack]

anyone on this site who wont pay £14.95 to watch the chisora v klitscho or khan v mccloskey fight is a cheap charlie who should be ashamed to call themselfs a boxing fan !
you couldent park at the m.e.n for that price or buy 4 pints inside for that matter, no excuses, i cant even believe your on this site in the first place.

Come on,lots of fans on here have travelled around the world watching fights,i have.Khan vs McCloskey is clearly not a ppv fight,if the undercard is good then i may go to the men,but otherwise no chance.