At the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England, WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17KOs) won a six round technical decision over previously undefeated Paul McCloskey (22-1, 12KOs). The fight was cut short after McCloskey suffered a bad cut from an accidental clash of heads in the sixth. All three judges had it 60-54.
McCloskey made a very big mistake of keeping his hands down low and getting hit with Khan’s very fast hands. He trying to outbox Khan and failing by allowing Khan to get off with so many punches. Khan had no respect for McCloskey’s power, often charging in with reckless combinations. Not many of Khan’s punches were landing clean but he was outworking McCloskey easily. During the early part of the sixth round, there was a clash of heads and McCloskey was cut above the left eye. McCloskey wanted to continue, but the doctor felt the cut was too severe and advised the ref to stop it. Because four rounds had been completed, the fight went to the scorecards.
The fight itself was lackluster and there wasn’t much action. Sky Sports is certainly going to feel they made the correct decision to drop this card from their pay-per-view outlet. McCloskey and his manager Barry Hearn were very upset with the stoppage. The entire crowd was very unhappy with the stoppage. Not good for Khan’s dream of securing an impressive pay-per-view showing.
