Time for Khan to split

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Got to agree Khan has to improve to beat Bradley who is a very under rated boxer, much better then anyone Khan has faced as a pro (Barrera was finished when they met). I also don't think that either Khan or his team has come out of this week very well and after this fight neither has British boxing.

Another bum opponent.
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That's pretty harsh, Mr Chelsea. McCloskey's not on Khan's level, but he is a very decent fighter, and a good test. There's plenty of weaker opponents Khan could have chosen for a voluntary defence.

Khan was wild and untidy, but I suspect that had a lot to do with desperately wanting a KO for the UK audience. When it comes to Bradley the only thing that matters is the result, and I'd expect Khan to be more measured and patient. Tough fight to call though.

The absolute truth of this fight is this. Amir Khan's opponent didn't really have the world class armory needed to take him down. McCloskey is far more of a dodge em and take what he can give and then nab him guy. Maidana was purely unlikely to lose against khan. Khan might have developed a chin somewhat but he is still far from being called class. He has speed but nothing more. Takes shots left, right and centre and its frankly only a matter of time before he is out again.

do we all forget the number of pro fights Kharn has had he has been catapulted to championship distance.
he is a real talent and is getting rid of all put in front of him . let him develope

What hope is there for boxing and the BBC coverage when their reporter Nabil Hassan writes that ´Khan won on points´. Rubbish. Does he not know the difference between a points decision (12 rounds) and a technical decision (when a fight is stopped because of cuts and the points awarded decide the issue)which was the result of this fight. Come on BBC for goodness sake get someone that knows a little about boxing and not some idiot that does not even know the technicalities of boxing!

Khan starting to get a bit of gob on him. All boxers trash talk but he had no class in the post fight interview. He got on as if he had put on a masterclass the night before.

If McCloskey was as bad as Khan said, where was the convincing victory? I felt sorry for Paul, one of the if not the worst decision I have ever seen in boxing. Fair enough Khan was ahead on points and was winning every round but who knows what would of happened. Khan wobbled in the 10th against Maidana, could of done the same as McCloskey packs good power.

Khan underestimated McClosked and he was very one dimensional against an awkward opponent. If he does beat Bradley I'd like to see him step up and fight people with class like Cotto, Moseley, Margarritto..ect..

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Not a great night for Amir but now is the time to move on. A win against Bradley should have the doubters silenced.

But the problem with Amir's doubters is that they tend to be on the angry side. It doesn't matter though because the guy is an Olympic silver medalist at 17, world champ at 22 and has the heart of a lion. Yes in particular the latter - because he came back after the Prescott destruction.

He took an almighty hammering in that round vs Maidana and the way he stayed up and eventually fought back in the 11th and 12th was incredible. The sport of boxing at its finest. My advice to Amir is to get Ariza back and then focus on Bradley.

what can i say about khan, he has got a mouth it seems all the british boxers have a got mouth hatton, haye, and now khan, he is talented, but he talks as he is the best, his not, but i think he would still beat bradley, if you have seen bradley's last fight it was worse off than khan's and alexandra had a worse cut than paul, but hey that is boxing, lets be fair tonight, other amir khan fights finishes early around the first around, the last year or so has he gotten into latter rounds.

after all what the english people and the press do is make it seem so big, in reality what the english are hopeless, but hey who am I say this, after all i support english in every sport,

khan is a person to hate, not to like i think, but he is good, if he beats bradley what next, move up weights, if he does than he'll fce the big guys cotto, maywhether, if maywhether is not being charged again for racsim, marquez, khan is no oscar de la hoya, nor he is manny, but lets hope he could become something bigger than hatton, who just talked the talked, and slept in the ring against manny lol.

Some of the comments are laughable. This was a tough fight for Khan to be mentally up for, what with the shambolic handling of the fight and the lack of a big name to get up for. Khan is class full stop. He is now at elite level. Yeah theres flaws there no doubt but Im happy he's british and ill support him regardless. Oh and comment no.7. Margarito having class. Ha

6. At 23:10pm 17th Apr 2011, James Autar wrote:
What hope is there for boxing and the BBC coverage when their reporter Nabil Hassan writes that ´Khan won on points´. Rubbish. Does he not know the difference between a points decision (12 rounds) and a technical decision (when a fight is stopped because of cuts and the points awarded decide the issue)which was the result of this fight. Come on BBC for goodness sake get someone that knows a little about boxing and not some idiot that does not even know the technicalities of boxing!"

I think you may want to check your understanding of the rules, the fight was stopped due to a clash of heads rather than a boxer creating a cut. As such the fight is decided by points for the rounds up to that point. I always find it's worth checking facts before shouting down someones work.

McCloskey's performance reminded me of Vaughn Bean vs Michael Moorer back in 1997; Bean was good at being awkward, making Moorer miss and making him look bad, but was so concerned with that that he never mounted any kind of offense. McCloskey was guilty of the same thing. Khan will be 'afraid' of rematching McCloskey in the same way Vitali Klitschko is afraid of Kevin Johnson.

'I was going to come on in the second half' is unfortunately the easiest excuse to offer up, even Ollie McCall tried to pretend than in his '97 breakdown loss to Lewis. But unless you show something offensively in what actually took place then it comes across as hollow. Trying to make out that Khan was exhausted after the second round and ready to drop sounds very myoptic too, after he'd just had his two best and busiest rounds.

But for all that, the stoppage was very poor. Let that thing go on for another couple rounds, and we'd really have had firm evidence of either the cut getting worse or McCloskey actually winning a round. Very frustrating.

Just feels like a waste all round, really.

Typical overeaction from some of the Uk boxing fans. Aganist Maidana it was a brave, warrior like performance, now v McCluskey it showed up his flaws and he is not world class!

Khan did not have a great night, aganist an awkward Mccluskey, but there is no doubt he won every round and would have won a losided points win or a late stoppage. McCluskey did nothing to show that he was a serious danger to his title. There is no gain in Khan giving him a rematch - how much money is that going to make and what interest will that generate outside Northern Ireland?

The bigger tests lie ahead, Timothy Bradley is a tough test, he is a superb boxer and can also fight inside. Khan will need to be at his very best to unfiy the titles, but he can do if he gets his accuracy back, and uses his speed and movement like he has showed in earlier fights.

But Khan's Management dropped a clanger by not accepting Sky Sports offer to go on on Sky Sports 3 rather than go to that no mark channel Primetime. The bill was not of PPV quality and Khan would have been better to get maximum exposure putting this fight on Sky sports or better still on terrestrial. Sadly boxing across the board is suffering from this short sightedness and will continue to stumble in the dark.

But perhaps that is a debate for another day ...

First off, let me say that Khan as a boxer, is quality.  Those of you that are saying he isn't are wrong.  I was proved wrong after both the Malignaggi fight and then the Maidana fight - I'm still eating humble pie now.  His speed, his cardio and his movement are awesome.  He'll beat Bradley and I reckon he'll do well in the pound for pound stakes against the big boys.
 
Khan has all the typical bravado every British Boxer seems to have these days, but for some reason, I just don't like him, and I've always loved the mouthy fighters we produce, well, the ones that are good and back up their mouth (Eubank, Naz, Froch, Haye, DeGale - not Harrison).
 
It's all the things away from boxing that bug me with Khan (and in particular his management), it started when he swerved Prescott.  Since then, the way he dealt with Ariza was wrong, the way he swerved Sky Sports for PPV was wrong, the way he ducked a big puncher until Maidana was wrong, the way he treated the McCloskey as second rate in their negotiations was wrong.  
 
Compare him to Froch who is a warrior and a real fighter.  Yes, Froch moans, but he still gets on with it.  He's much more of a Champion in my eyes.
 
But, imagine if Khan was to play the pantomime baddie, like Mayweather does so well.  He would be amazing at it.....just an idea!

Yet again I'm left with a nasty taste in my mouth. Its not Khan's fault that the fight was stopped, but it is his fault that the fight was staged in the first place. not a harrison haye mismatch, but yet another handpicked opponent. when oh when is khan going to take the step up and fight world class boxers and prove to us once and for all that he is the real deal?

Khan also needs to realise that its the fight, not the fighter, thats a PPV event. PPV is killing boxing and, while Sky thankfully realised that this fight was not PPV, I'm effectively being asked to pay twice to watch world class boxing on sky. I already pay extra to watch sport on sky but then have to top up for the pleasure of watching boxing. The fans who prop up PPV events are complicit in slowly killing the sport. if we all stood together and refused to pay, promoters and fighters like Khan might stop treating us like mugs

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do we all forget the number of pro fights Kharn has had he has been catapulted to championship distance.
he is a real talent and is getting rid of all put in front of him . let him develope

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its easy to get rid of all thats put in front of you, when all thats put in front of you are limited fighters. Khan is a legitimate world champion now, so the time for him to 'devlop' has gone. boxers should learn their trade on the way up, not when they are supposedly at the top of the tree. he should be fighting the best in the world. i dont begrudge him an easy defence but please dont proclaim him to be world class simply for beating a European level boxer

not a harrison haye mismatch, but yet another handpicked opponent. when oh when is khan going to take the step up and fight world class boxers
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I don't understand this comment.

Maidana, Mallinaggi, Kotelnik all fight at world level - not exactly handpicked bums. Salita was a poor opponent, but that was a mandatory defence. Khan's last truly handpicked opponent was Barrera.

Khan was entitled to a voluntary defence, and McClosky was just a 'keep busy' fight. You ask when he's going to step up. Well guess what, next fight - Timothy Bradley. I think we can all agree that's a proper world class match-up.

Could not agree more that Khan won every round up to the point of stoppage and he certainly threw/landed more punches but his comments immediately after the fight (and then again at the post fight press conference) were grossly disingenuous and, at times, borderline delusional. He certainly is not the fighter he (or his extended entourage) thinks he is and will come badly unstuck, i believe, against Bradley.

Ryushinku @ 14 wrote " 'I was going to come on in the second half' is unfortunately the easiest excuse to offer up " and i agree to an extent but McCloskey was no shrinking violet. He held the centre of the ring for much of the fight, and for all of Khans wild unwieldy punches there wasn't a single mark that i could see on Paul's face. He certainly didn't look like a fighter who was being beaten up. If ever a fighter could genuinely claim to be soaking up pressure and biding his time then McCloskey could. Four of McCloskeys last five KOs have come in rounds 7 and upward.

Many people snidely claim McCloskey is "a European level fighter" - fairly astute as he held the EBU belt - but where next do European champions go after several successful defenses? Thats right - after a world title.

Anyone recall the blood that pured from Barrera's head for 4 rounds after he and Khan clashed heads?? Plenty of hyperbole around on Saturday night but Barry Hearn was one of the lesser guilty parties.

All brits are bum boxers. Their best two -- Lewis and Prince(ss) Naseem Hamed -- weren't even British. All the rest have always been bum fighters as Manny showed and Klitschko will soon show too. Ben Dirs would probably make a better fighter than any of them.

Hi Ben,

A bad night for many reasons! It certainly was not a PPV event, terrible undercard and a bad decision to end the fight before the cutman could patch him up. But for me Khan - as much as he has improved over the past couple of years in technique and confidence - has a way of simply saying the wrong things. He doesn't appear to realise that he insults not only his opponents with the strange stuff he comes out with, but that he is also putting off those who might want to pay to see him box in the future. He seems to believe that he is a superstar, yet Sky pulled out for a reason... Mayweather can make 100m for a reason, and it's backed up by the numbers of buys, isn't this an indication of where Khan is at this moment, good - yes, popular superstar... er - no.

Anyway, Bradley will be a good fight, and Khan has every chance of winning if he stays on the outside, hard to do for the whole fight though as Bradley comes to win and closes off the ring v well...

Either Khan has an incredible hard head, or some of these boxers are rather soft-skinned. His opponents seem to bleed rather quickly. . .

Khan's biggest problem is the only thing people remember him for is for a fight where it should have been stopped after 5 seconds, his PPV debut. What's he done to put that right?

David Speedie - it would be best you kept your mouth shut. You are WRONG. A points decision is when the fight has gone the prescribed distance and the judges scorecards are used to decide the outcome. The official verdict of this fight was a ´technical decision´in favour of Khan as the fight was stopped due to an áccidental´clash of heads and the judges scorecards are used and the winner is the boxer who is ahead at the time. Check with the British Boxing Board of Control if you don´t believe me. Be best if you checked your facts before going into print to criticise others!!

Khan will beat Bradley on points fairly comfortably later in the year. Bradley is fast, aggressive and intelligent as well as being a bit dirty but Amir is even faster, taller, naturally bigger and has the best tactician in the business in his corner. Both excellent fighters but Khan has every advantage going in this fight so will win it. After that, Khan can move up to welterweight and light middleweight where the likes of Cotto, Ortiz, Berto, maybe even Mayweather await.

I have followed various boxers and in nearly all, I find something to like. Because at the end of the day, I have sparred and I know that taking the next step to proper boxing takes something special. Courage, fearlessness, whatever...very few can do it. If Khan does eventually say "I'm the greatest" or "I'm better than FMJ or Manny" so what?

Boxing is the most psychological of sports, these guys are allowed to believe and say what they want. We can judge them on their results. But for heavens sake why get so angry about it? It just leaves a bad taste.....

And regarding comment 26: James Autar - stop being angry, you come across foolish.

I have to agree with you Ben, I'm a little puzzled about the hostility shown toward Amir Khan by a lot of British boxing fans. I have to admit, I don't follow Khan closely, but he has always seemed to me to be a promising Brit boxer and someone who could be potentially very good. I get the impression people think he is too cocky, but a boxer has to have self-confidence before he gets in the ring, otherwise he is beaten before he starts. Maybe the Audley Harrison debacles have made people cynical, but Khan seems to have taken the proper route to developing his career and working to improve. Can someone who is anti-Khan explain the hostility to me? And not with stuff that he's "too cocky" or "overhyped" because being cocky and being hyped is what boxing has been about since day one.

I'm giving you an average opinion, because I know little about Boxing. But then I'm the sort of person that PPV needs to make it worthwhile, cos there's a lot more people who don't know that much about boxing who pay to watch PPV than those that do know what they're talking about. A lot of these people paid £15 to watch Khan lose in 5 seconds, knowing his career had been hand picked fights up to that point.

"If Khan thought his immediate future in the sport lay away from his native Britain before this fight, then Saturday's events and the wrangling that preceded them might ensure he never fights in his homeland again."

A great shame should that be the case; every report I've read suggest the atmosphere before and during the fight was one of the best in recent years even if the finish up was a damp squib.

Ok so Khan doesn't help himself at times with comments about other boxers, and certainly his management team could do with improving their communication skills (Khan's manager declined to give full reasons for the last minute move to Primetime and has yet to do so, when reading between lines there seemed to be a justifiable reasons for that, in which case an own goal in my opinion) but that doesn't explain the animosity towards Khan who should be appreciated as a very good and potentially great boxer in the making. Hey, it's not as if we are blessed with world champs to enjoy! If Khan doesn't fight again in this country then suspect it will be our loss and not his.

As for Bradley, teak tough, but looked one-dimensional against Alexander. If Khan gets back to form (for me Saturday night was just a very bad night at the office), moves like he can and utilises that blurring hand speed I'm fancying a tidy win on points and then some more classics to come.

I think there is anger towards Khan in this situation because of the Sky / Primetime PPV mess, I believe it was more Khans incompetent teams fault, but they came across as prematurely greedy and where offering a below par product for PPV.

But, there is also a general dislike towards Khan, which I don’t understand, why we can’t celebrate the fact we have a 24 year old British fighter in the top two of a very competitive division, I do not know.
It seems to be the British sports fans default opinion to take a negative stance on our successful athletes, regardless of their achievements. unless you can create a Ricky Hatton “man of the people” (he drinks beer, he is one of us) persona you have got no chance of getting support from the wider British Boxing public and your every move, opponent and achievement will be criticised.

Also the idea Khan has fought poor opposition is ridiculous, especially as he is now established as the number 2 in the division and going onto a unification fight with the number 1.

Lets not be stupid and think Khan's leaving the UK due to negativity from fans - its an economic decision pure and simple. He will be showcased live on HBO and then if he continues to win, he will become a pay-per-view fighter in the american market, where they charge $55 per fight. Thats a bit more then paying £15 over here.

However, what are the reasons behind some of the negative comments towards Khan? I personally have never warmed to his grandiose statements, which he has been making since he turned pro. I also think he has been afforded certain opportunities that a lot of other boxers havent. This i believe has all been linked to him being a poster boy for multi-cultural Britain, the media gave him a free pass. Audley Harrison topped the bill in his pro debut in 2001 and the media torn him to pieces. Khan does the same in 2005 and hes the second coming. Harrison was derided (rightly) for his hyperbole, whereas Khan was not - even when it all culminated with the brutal KO to Prescott.

He might become a very good boxer but hes been a pro now for 6 years and never been an underdog in any of his fights. Hes never faced adversity, apart from maybe the 10th round vs Maidana, who was nothing but a one-dimensional slugger. If he wants to be respected i suggest he engages in much more competitive bouts, where the fans actually get value for money.

There is some serious dislike around for Khan still isnt there its hardly his fault that a ref wrongly stopped a fight he was winning every round in prematurely is it.

Reviewing the fight McCloskey did make him miss alot but then again he didn't offer that much of a response and had he tried to throw a little more probably would have taken more of a beating.

On Bradley I wouldnt read too much into this Khan's wins against Kotelnik and Maidana showee that when faced with a real challenger (Kotelnik is a lot better than given credit for) he rises to it and puts up good performances and plenty of Khans strengths will match up well against Bradley. i quite fancy him to win that when it happens.

Seeing teh same rubbish with TV deals happen to Khan I wouldnt be suprised to see Froch follow him out the country for his final few fights as well that guy deserves a few pay days in my view

Awful decision , all to fight for. Khan , woefully average. Bradley emphatically. Nice lad , but unification is beyond him. Fast hands , not a lot else.

tavarrez - best you keep out of something that does not concern you, but for your information as well and also Speedie and Nabil Hassan, if you check the Wikipedia web site, no less, you will see that the win for Khan is rightfully recorded as being ´TD´ in other words a ´technical decision´. It was NOT a points win. All boxing authorities have the result as a ´technical decision´.

Mr Chelsea, Paul Mcloskey was the mandatory challenger for the title and therefore Khan had to defend or would have been stripped.. Everybody criticises Khan for displaying the kind of emotion Nigel Benn was loved for. He is still a young lad and is trying to forge out a career, and these fights happen to every one (Anthony Logan nearly KO'd Benn in the first round). I hope i am wrong but my opinion is that Khan is still very chinny and someone like Bradley is going to have the skill to get to him, and the patience to finish him. If Khan had a better chin he could be right up there, but the fact is you always get nervous for him as fights go on.

Mr Chelsea, Mckloskey's style is a bob and weave counter puncher, his head was way down all night and Khan had to hold it down from the start. I am old school and don't think Khan should have to fight going backwards to avoid someone who lifts up there head in close proximity.. Boxing needs to be a full contact sport and sometimes head clashes are unavoidable due to styles.To anyone who gives a monkeys ..I felt for Paul as he came to fight, but as many have said he could get a fight with the winner of Khan vs Bradley.. Looking through these threads it is typical of us Brits slating our own fighter for developing as a pro. Most world champions go along exactly as Khan has, but never even try to unify the division they are in, he has sought the mandatory challengers put in front of him and waited while Bradley and Alexander fought to unify the other two thirds. He is now stepping up to fight a pound for pounder and to unify the title. what else can he do for gods sake.. Why is it that if he gets emotional people criticize him? If he claims that he wants to be the best (as pretty much any fighter of worth claims) he gets panned? if he has a fight stopped by a doctor he gets criticized?

Many other champions have gone through this , but it's only the brits who write off the very best talent they have. We haven't got anyone as good as the pac man and never will, so we should probably deal with that.

Nav,

If you haven’t noticed Khan is already a World Champion, so has lived up to his promise far better then Audley. And probably only Alexander and Bradley are ahead of Maidana at 140 so who exactly would you like Khan to have fought??

Also the idea the media have gave him an easy ride is ridiculous!

#NavSandu - disagree that Khan leaving UK (if that does happen) would be for economic reasons pure and simple. Granted there is plenty of money to be made on PPV with fights in Vegas/New York, but a much healthier mix would be for him to have the occasional fight over here also, when against a top opponent he could potentially fill a football stadium, give his profile a welcome boost (i doubt a focus completely on the US market makes commercial sense) and let the UK fans enjoy him live.

As for the respect issue, I struggle to think of many fighters who having being completely wiped out in the ring in the full glare of the British public, and then being written off by pretty much everyone, could pick themselves up to start from scratch overseas and prove themselves to one of the world's best trainers, before going on to become a world champion with several defences behind them. And then to live with constant claims that "ah yes, that's all very well but let's not forget he is still 'chinny'", only to hang tough against a banger like Maidana when most pundits were amazed he managed to stay on his feet and not get Ko'd after the punishment he took. Instead Khan ended up winning the fight considered one of the best, if not the best, of 2010.

Let's put aside the occasional grandiose statement for a moment; Khan has enormous character and in my opinion warrants the respect of all boxing fans for what he has achieved thus far.

Having been at the fight myself I find some of the comments amusing to say the least. McCloskey was very good at making Khan miss, holding his head quite low and his lateral movement is pretty good. Every fighter would find him a hard target.

With regards to the head clash I find it hard to understand why no-one mentions that McCloskey is a southpaw. These types of clashes quite often happen when an orthodox fighter faces a southpaw as the head is trying to occupy the same space during leading punches. Granted the cut didn't look that bad when I saw pictures after the fight and perhaps it was a mistake made by the doctor at first review, but it did look to be quite wide and the potential was there for it to be made much worse.

what constantly amazes me with Khan supporters (of which I would include myself until several years ago) is that there almost seems to be a belief that we should not criticise him - 24 years old, olympic medallist, world champ etc. I dont routinely knock british boxers and the only time i ever cheered on the non british boxer was when Barrerra outfoxed and outboxed the Prince (who I'd come to detest by the kelly fight).

Khan however has alienated many boxing fans, who were behind him from the off. I've said it repeadedly on 606 but i felt Khan had more potential than any british boxer i'd seen since naz. warren did a good job of nurturing him but even this became farcical at the end. all boxers have warm up fights on the way up but Khan had more than his fair share, while we were sold that he was the best thing since slice bread. I could handle him proclaiming to be world class if he'd fought world class fighters. many of the fighters that people list above were either shot (MAB) or at best average (saturday night anyone) by the time Khan chose to fight them.

The final series of nails in the coffin were PPV for non title fights, the moaning after losing to prescott (along the lines of why was he allowed to fight someone who might beat him. sack the trainer and the promoter), some ill timed 'arrogant' statements and maintaining HE his a PPV event, even when he fights mcCloskey. Its not one thing that has turned me off Khan but a drip drip over a number of years

I hope Khan goes to the US and never returns to fight in the UK. The hostility shown towards him in this country is outrageous. The reason being simple - the so called British Boxing Fans are just a bunch of jealous snobs.

Khan is no different in his attitude and demeanour to Prince Naseem, Eubank, Benn or any other boxer for that matter. The 'arrogance' is all part of the boxing business.

In any case, I hope he doesnt return to the UK for years now. He will become a star in the States and Americans will pay decent money to watch the bigger and better fights that will come now..

Khan will clear up his division and move up weights in the next year or so..... No doubt he will finish as a legend and plenty of millions in his pocket!!! Good luck son....

I have no doubt that if the fight had continued, there was a fifty-fifty chance that Paul McCloskey would have stopped Khan, with other option that the fight would have went the distance and Khan would obviously won. If you look at his defence against Guiseppe Lauri in Belfast, he was anything but offensive until the 11th round and still KO'd, finishing that fight with a wicked swelling and a bruised head. Paul does his work in the latter rounds and has been successful every time with this strategy.
Looking at replays of the fight, although impressive with speed, Khan never connected well or not at all with many of those punches. The biggest punch of the fight was McCloskey's. Khan was obviously ahead on volume of punches thrown but we will never know if Paul would have caught him with a trademark uppercut, due to the ridiculous decision by the ref. Wonder if the cut was on Khan if it would have been stopped so unceremoniously??
Anyway, I disregard anything that Khan has said post-fight(he needs to protect his career) and think that he seems like a nice lad underneath the guise of confidence that a professional boxer must exhume.
He will never have a more dangerous or unpredictable opponent.

44. At 13:29pm 19th Apr 2011, GreatWhitePathan wrote:
I hope Khan goes to the US and never returns to fight in the UK. The hostility shown towards him in this country is outrageous. The reason being simple - the so called British Boxing Fans are just a bunch of jealous snobs.
 
Khan is no different in his attitude and demeanour to Prince Naseem, Eubank, Benn or any other boxer for that matter. The 'arrogance' is all part of the boxing business.
 
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For what it's worth, I've already described why I don't like Khan when compared to Eubank and Naz and it's nothing to do with his mouth.  For me it's the attitude of his management and sadly therefore, he is associated by proxy as their behaviour and actions reflect on him.  They are Team Khan after all.  
 
Why didn't he give Prescott a rematch?
Why does Ariza say he was stolen from?  
Why did the McCloskey negotiations initially fall through following rumours that the management team were unreasonable?
Why force people to pay £14.95 to watch a fight Khan cared little about when a deal with Sky would have meant more to him in the long run?
 
This has nothing to do with his talent either.  Khan is world class and will beat Bradley before stepping up.  He's too good not to.  Just because he's English doesn't mean we all have to like him.  Do you think Mayweather is adored by the Americans?  Would I like Margarito if he was English?
 
Rant over

45. At 13:59pm 19th Apr 2011, ruairiogi wrote:

Just not true, I was there and I can tell you that Khan landed some pretty telling punches to be honest. McClosky just wasn't throwing any leather nevermind leaving it till the later rounds!!

I'm not a big fan of Khan's either and I think he may come undone against a stiffer test. McClosky reminds me a little of Malinaggi, hard to hit but not really heavy handed.

khan should fight somebody who might actually test him before moving on to bradley

Sorry to say but I don't rate amir as boxer or a champ why you ask? It's because he hasn't gone back for prescott and returned him the favor till then he's just a jumped up lightweight if he does go back and fight him might do him a favor find out hard his new chin is lol

eubankschin,

Why didn't he give Prescott a rematch?

Because Prescott lost twice after the Khan fight and moved up to Welterweight, I don’t see how a rematch for a world title at 140 is even possible…
The rest I agree with you on!

jameswho60

See above ^

Dunc & Timthejab,

I dont classify Khan as a "world champion" - his belt is worthless. Lets not buy into this sanctioning body nonsense - they are a cancer on the sport. For him to be Light-Welterweight Champion, he has to beat Bradley. I'll think he will win on points and finally would have cleared out the 140 pounders. What frustrates me is that it has taken him 6 years to reach that point and hes never been the underdog going into a fight.

Fair do Dunc still I think prescott should come down see if he can do him again now thats a fight I'd pay £15 to watch.

Just to update you chaps, according to boxingtalk.com, Breidis "The Khanqueror" Prescott (not my words, see below) is still after that rematch, and thinks it will happen.

Here's the article:

BREIDIS PRESCOTT STILL LOOKING FOR AMIR KHAN REMATCH

Edited Press Release: Breidis "The Khanqueror" Prescott (23-2, 19 KOs) enjoyed watching HBO's broadcast of WBA 140-pound titlist Amir Khan's dominant win over Paul McCloskey last Saturday night. [Khan won all six rounds before the fight was stopped on a cut caused by an accidental headbutt, thus sending the fight to the scorecards]. "They showed me knocking Khan out in the highlights before the fight," said the proud Colombian. For those who don't recall, Prescott gave Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) his only careel loss in 54 seconds in September 2008, but Khan went on to become a huge moneymaker, while Prescott has struggled to land a big fight, leaving him in the awkward position of calling for a rematch against a guy he beat. Prescott will face Bayan Jargal (15-1-3, 10 KOs) this Friday, April 22nd on ESPN2. "I'll take care of business with Jargal and then wait and see if Khan's fight with Timothy Bradley materializes. He promised to fight me right after Bradley."

Thinking about it if I was prescott I'd be real mad at how amir khans career took off he bangs him out in 54 seconds and gets nowhere fast while amir gets knocked out like the 2bit fighter he is and gets catapulted to stardom how baffled would you be. shame that didn't work for audley ; )

#NavSandu "I dont classify Khan as a "world champion" - his belt is worthless."

I thought Sky had moved the goalposts last week but they are nothing on you! Presumably you think that David Haye's WBA belt is worthless too?

And 6 years for a professional boxer to 'unify' a division (assuming Khan does it) is none too shabby, especially when you consider many great boxers don't manage that in their entire career.

Timthejab

i actually believe that there should only be one champion per division. Is that too much to ask? The Ring have it spot on with most of their champions and ratings. Hence you are correct, i dont regard David Haye as a champion, at this point hes a contender. Hes fighting for the legitimate Heavyweight Championship when he gets in there with Wladimir.

#Nav Sandhu

Well that hasn't been the case for the last 50 years so i suspect there is not much chance of it happening any time soon. Especially while there is no appetite for one worldwide governing body to oversea boxing, and multiple commercial interests at play.

I agree with you the recent proliferation of extra belts within an organisation, such as 'silver', 'super', 'diamond' etc is taking the situation beyond a joke; where it will all end who knows and it certainly does nothing to help with the credibitility of the sport to latent and potential boxing fans. And that's without factoring other 'world bodies' such as the IBO who seem to be springing up. That said I think Khan is just a legitimate champion as any other single belt holder within the WBA/WBC/IBF and WBO Assocations.

Nb. not convinced about the legitimacy of Ring Magazine's rankings given the mag is owned by Golden Boy Promotions. Conflict of interest springs to mind!!

Re: #1 “Another bum opponent”

Even though he just came through an epic fight with Maidana, a very highly regarded boxer in the division who was being ducked by everyone else?

Fair enough this guy was not in his class, but you had the British media pushing him to have a fight in the UK, realistically who was he going to get to fight. No superstar is going to Manchester.

It was the British media’s fault pushing him to fight there and now they are complaining that the guy he fought was a chump – what can he do.

Now he is looking to unify the division against Bradley. Once he has done that maybe you can criticism him for another obtuse reason. British mentality summed up or what, we hate you when you’re losing and hate you when you’re winning…

At 23:56pm 17th Apr 2011, NoNameNoFace wrote:

"Khan starting to get a bit of gob on him. All boxers trash talk but he had no class in the post fight interview. He got on as if he had put on a masterclass the night before."

Khan STARTING to get a gob on him? Where have you been for the past few years?!?! Every time the guy opens his mouth it makes me feel embarassed to be a human.

jameswho,

Don’t get me wrong I would like to see the Prescott fight and I think Khan will avoid him at all costs unless Prescott is bring a world title or something to the table, but after Mitchell boxed his head of, I don’t think Prescott is good enough to get to that level.

Nav,

Yes the various belts are frustrating and at this point Khan has no claim on being the best in the division, but like it or not have a version of the word title still does carry some weight when making and selling fights. Also although Khan hasn’t faced the real worlds elite yet, there has been plenty of boxers with far easier route to winning and defending a “world title”

How did the BBBC and the WBA allow three English judges adjudicate at a world title fight featuring an Englishman fighting an Irishman in England? That might explain the absurd 60-54 scores from all three judges. Khan no more won all six rounds than the Papal Nuncio will be penning a three year deal to play in central midfield for Glasgow Rangers. A poor performance from Khan, McCloskey made him look silly - and the European champion deserved his 12 rounds.

i think the only way it would be fair is a rematch even no khan had him in the rounds it means nothing in the world of boxing anything can happen. khan is not i good fighter has not been up against any 1 yet i have seen better fights in the street.........

On Saturday evening when i watched this fight, i have to say i was 2 things, shocked and appauled. The fight was stopped ludicrisly prematurely without consultation for the cut man, which begs the question why is he there. The doctor Was in the ring like a rat up a drainpipe and gave his incorect verdict extremly quickly. I am a large Mccloskey fan and to see Khans family celebrate so disrespectfully in this manner really left a very bad after taste in my mouth. absolutly disgraceful, what an evening of shame

Bernard

Would you like to tell me which round(s) Khan didn’t win, PM made Amir miss a far bit, but Khan still out work and landed more punches every round, as backed up by the stats!

Big C

What do you expect Khans family to do when Amir wins?

Hello Duncan, the manner in which the fight was stopped and so subsequently his family celebrated (his brother taunting Barry Hearn) was disrespectful. Surely you can see this, it was rubbing salt in Pauls very small and erronus wound. Khan barely landed anythin on him, he would have had more chance landing a plane then landin a punch on the slippery Character that was big Paul. So Duncan as you see its not the celebrations but the manner in which they were done

amir khan needs to wise up its all about the money now he wont have mccloskey a rematch. will the family of khans souldnt be running about the ring like he won the match its a disgrace to boxing the way it ended

khan couldnt box eggs he is waste of time and money sould hang the gloves up after that match its a joke. he is may cash in why he can because when he does have a rematch bring it to belfast and 3 irish judges and see how the big ma khan does then.

PM and AK are old hat now that haye and wladimir are going to get it on it's about time they got it on. been waiting to long and hearing to much trash talk about this fight. So I hope haye can deliver.

Big C

Well I agree with you that Team Khan & Amir’s Family are highly annoying and I wished they wouldn’t be so prominent in his career.

But Amir did catch him a few times in the fight, especially in the 5th. PM was hard to hit but he had absolutely no interested in letting his own hands go and taking risks, also his convenient post fight game plan that he was going to wait until the 2nd half of the fight before throwing a meaningful punch is ridiculous, as the fight was all but lost on points already. You still haven’t told me which round PM won or even for a share of??

I think this is a perfect result for Paul, as everyone in Northern Ireland can claim he was robbed, instead of seeing him lose all 12 rounds or get stopped late on, in his ONE big chance.

i word dunc REMATCH will clear it all up for every1

the brother of khan running about like a kabab

Big Dee,

A rematch is not necessary because Khan won EVERY ROUND, or do you disagree with that, if so please tell me what round PM didn’t lose?

Also the fight was hardly a huge commercial success or incredibly entertaining (mostly because of PM’s negative tactics) so I don’t think there is a single person out side of Northern Ireland that has any interest in seeing a rematch.

Having said that I would love to see McClosky win a world title, so if he can get a fight with and beat a Maidana, Peterson, Kotelnik or Alexander he would deserve another shot.

Dunc, I’m with you mate, a rematch with McCloskey sadly doesn’t make sense at this point; hopefully it can happen sometime down the line.  I do disagree with you on the Prescott rematch issue though.

Khan should have fought Prescott soon after he got his backside handed to him.  He went on to fight Fagan at lightweight and then head butted Barrera at light weight too.  Either one of these fights could have been a rematch with Prescott.  A rematch at this point would have shown his doubters what he was about, would have seen him overcome the odds, fight as an under-dog and also would have earned him a few quid.  Khan would have won hands down, by this point Roach had already improved him and Prescott was busy being embarrassed by both Vasquez and Mitchell.  Instead Khan took an easier route against feather duster punchers and people that didn’t like being head-butted.  Khan has Olympic pedigree, why did he hide?  Look at DeGale, already fighting among the dangerous guys.  That’s a fighter. 

A rematch with Prescott now is pointless.  Khan is of course far superior and has bigger fish to fry.  It’s a shame if they do fight.  I want Prescott to be called The Khanqueror forever.  What a name!

eubankschin

I to would have liked to see the Prescott rematch happen straight away, but at that time Khan was sacking trainers, splitting with promoters and he looked exposed with his career in complete turmoil, so I can’t begrudge him taking a few “easy/safe” fights to get his confidence back and rebuild, which he has done to his (and Freddie Roach’s) credit.

But, I think if Prescott can get a couple of decent wins under his belt and get himself remotely in contention, Khan should definitely grant the rematch and as you said there would be huge interest in this fight, partly from casual fans hoping Khan gets KO’d again.

'the brother of khan running about like a kabab'

its comments like these which show the hatred for khan and peoples skin colour in the british isles. there is a built in prejudism why u see ppl spewing garbage based on peoples skin colour and not there obvious talents.

leave aside the talents or lack of amir khan...it is the inherent racial undertones that make me angry.

since his medal at the olympics, i have found him to be a nice, respectful, polite young man...in an industry where arrogance,rudeness,disrespect and hyperbole are prevelant in abundance...reading the comments...makes you wonder its amir we are talking about or charles manson.

as for the performance, it was average, khan has a long way to go beforfe being considered great...the jury is still out....does he deserve vitriol...no

all i ment was hes brother running about the ring like a fat bas.... mccolskey is a peacock u have got to let him fly lol . i am the same race as khan so you dont no what your talking about bridgit44. i just dont think the match ended the way it sould off.

72. At 18:54pm 20th Apr 2011, BIG DEE wrote:

"the brother of khan running about like a kabab"

I hear he was doing that just to annoy you.

Yes. You specifically.

At 12:02pm 21st Apr 2011, tavarrez wrote:

I hear he was doing that just to annoy you.

Yes. You specifically.

alls i have to say is a rematch some time will sort it out.

martin rogan and paul mccloskey two of them robbed blind its a disgrace to boxing.

To Big Dee, i agree with your comments about Khans brother, altough it was not put the best and i do not agree with the racist undertones to it.

He and his family showed no respect to PM and his camp, Khans reaction after the fight in the press conference was that of a spoilt child who was gloating over his new toy. Disrespectful

Some of these comments are beyond belief -

(1). Khan won every round so it was right to stop it, and hence proves he is supperior to PM and no-rematch is required.

To start of with boxing is a sport where you could be winning in the final round in the final minute on all score cards, and have the carpet pulled out from right below you. Carl Froch, Taylor is a perfect example of this. If Forch had decided to go home in the mid rounds because he was behind on the score cards, he wouldn't be a world champion. Boxing is so addictive and gladitorial as literally one punch can change the fight, ask Michael Sprott.

(2). The fight wasn't prematurely stopped he was cut and behind on cards.

The fact is the cut was minor and we were no even close to the championship rounds yet. This was a weird call by the ref, and in my opinion another case of a referee descions with regards to a cut caused by a head butt buffering Khans record. If you need reminding look at the Khan, MAB fight, where MAB is badly cut from a headbutt and is bleeding heavily by round three. The fight is allowed to go past for round before being stopped allowing Khan to pick up a TD. The fact is the referee would have had better grounds to stop Khan in the Madina fight then to stop PM.

(3). PM was so far behind on points, and Khan was starting to wear him down. It was preventing the inevitiable

Wrong again, most people predicted that PM would start slowly, be defensive and willey and pick up in the championship end of the fight and go for a stoppage. He'd taken all punishment Khan had sent his way as wasn't looking tired. On top of this everyone knows the longer a fight goes on the more Khans work rate, and incredible hand speed slows down. These rounds were the ones PM was aiming for, it was his window of opportunity. He had weathered the storm and was denied by a dubious call.

End of the day is boxing is a combat sport, where people will get hurt and cut. But it is 12 rounds 3 minutes long and unlike most sports can end at any moment. Fans were denied this by a poor descions. Referees need to realise this is not amateur boxing where if you get a 20 point lead the fight is over, land 20 clear shots doesn't mean the contender is out of the fight. The fight should be ruled a no-contest and a rematch scheduled. What did Khan prove in this fight, nothing, what did PM prove he could take all Khans shots and make him miss like an amateur.

As for people claiming the British public is racist for not getting behind Khan its absurb, everyone got behind Naz. Khan just has endeared himself to anyone.

Anyone who thinks Khan has what it takes to beat Timothy Bradley is living in a dreamland, just like anyone who thought Hatton could beat Mayweather/Manny P. or anyone who thought Hamed could beat Barrerra.

Watch Bradleys fight against Alexander. He is solid, got great speed, great composure and a solid punch that will surely knockout Khan.

Khan won't stand a chance and I would be shocked to see him go beyond 6 rounds.

johndoe88 clearly this is a man of many words i agree 100% on what u have said

GOD BLESS

Khan may have a world title but I am sorry to say, to all those who rate him, he is only a good boxer, not a great one. This last fight was pathetic, what's the point of putting a pit bull against a greyhound; the match was quick earner.

Sadly, when Kahn does meet his a match; and take a severe beating, I think we won't see him for a long long time.

To clarify the David_Speedie and James Autar ding-dong that has been going on here, I must admit my initial response was something similar to D_S's, but if we look at the WBA website (as it is a WBA bout) then we find this clearly listed in the rules and regulations:-

"Accidental: If a boxer is accidentally injured and cannot continue fighting
before the completion of the fourth round, the fight shall be declared a
technical draw. If a boxer is accidentally injured and as a result the
referee determines that he cannot continue fighting in that or later
rounds, the result of the fight shall be determined by the judges’
scorecards as long as four rounds have been completed. The fighter
ahead on the scorecards shall be declared the winner by technical
decision. If there is a draw in the scorecards, the bout shall be declared a
draw."

As you can see the fight is indeed reviewed on a scorecard basis as it is past the 4th Round, however I think Mr Autur appears to be right in his ire, as it also clearly states that the fight is awarded to the fighter who is, yes, ahead on points, but it will be recognised as a 'technical decision' victory.

Regarding other comments made here, I'm baffled as to why some sectors of the British public still seem to buy into this 'gentlemanly' behaviour lark when it comes to boxing. Khan talks trash because that is a significant selling factor in the modern game. His 'trash-talking' has helped catch some Stateside attention, where the real boxing is carried out, which coupled with some fairly substantial displays against the likes of Kotelnik, Barrera, Malignaggi and Maidana have pretty much ensured the Bradley unification bout. Since coming under Freddie Roach's schooling and basing himself in the States he's gone from the kid who got sucker-punched by Breidis Prescott (why should Khan rematch someone who has lost twice since facing him, one of those times to Kevin Mitchell?) to a genuine World Champion boxer. The little that British boxing has done for Khan, I'd say he's well within his rights to never fight on these shores again. That's a shame, as British fight fans tend to be amongst some of the more devoted boxing followers and a great British fight night does have a real atmosphere about it, even on the worst of occasions.

That said I'm siding with grantbeed's comments, but in a slightly more restrained manner. I've watched Bradley since he turned up and dismantled Junior Witter's career and I think he genuinely has what it takes to be a 'great' boxer, a statement that can now be backed up by the way he bullied Alexander around the ring. It'll be a long gruelling night for Khan (just like it was for Abregu and Peterson) and whomever comes through it, will have to be considered the prime player in the Light-Welterweight division. I'm going with a 12 round decision for Bradley, as I just can''t see Khan dispatching him sooner and I really believe Bradley has the greater ring smarts to exploit his openings. The major weapon in Khan's armoury (and it is a major one nowadays, particularly when you consider the way Calzaghe managed to come back into things against Hopkins, or the way Pacquiao has risen to dominance) is the sheer speed of his punching, which is fast enough to unsettle the best of boxers. However, McCloskey has just demonstrated to some degree, how a little elusiveness in the ring can frustrate Khan's gameplan and Bradley, being a far superior fighter than Paul, should be able to a more offensive fighter and exact a bit more damage, particularly if he gets inside Khan and keeps as close to him as he did to Alexander.

He still gets hit, and will get caught again. The man throws lightning punches, and it's when he should be covering up after a flurry that it happens. Watch watch the sloppy arms when Prescott lands the punch, and we have seen him get hit again, and again and again in fights thereafter. Against Maidana, he took it. But there's a fine line between developing a good chin and getting smacked in the jaw a bit too much. Having said that, the man can be phenomenal and downright dangerous. This next fight will be telling. One way or another.

Bad news - according to Dan Rafael over at ESPN, Khan vs Bradley is on the brink of collapse and the blame game centres on the American, who surprise surprise, is holding out for more money.

This can be a very frustrating sport. Only a couple of weeks ago, Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto laid it all on the line in a classic encounter and now this.

i was never much of a khan fight untill recently but since he joined roach i think he is probably the best in the division if the bradely fight happens we will know for sure

''All brits are bum boxers. Their best two -- Lewis and Prince(ss) Naseem Hamed -- weren't even British. All the rest have always been bum fighters as Manny showed and Klitschko will soon show too. Ben Dirs would probably make a better fighter than any of them.'' - Norman Conquest

Norman Conquest - Are you stupid?
All British fighters have been bums except Lewis and Naz.

Eubank
Benn
Calzaghe

I suppose these were bums also? Froch? Even Hatton who admitadly lost it towards the end wasnt a bum. you dont beat the likes of Tszyu and Collazo otherwise.
Khan is still developing, wernt a great performance, but look at the maidana fight. fight of the year!?! You have cleverley coming through also and david haye, as much as his mouth irritates me...is also no doubt a class act and will dismantle klitschko.
Keep your idiotic comments to yourself

76. At 11:13am 21st Apr 2011, bridgit44 wrote:

'the brother of khan running about like a kabab'

its comments like these which show the hatred for khan and peoples skin colour in the british isles. there is a built in prejudism why u see ppl spewing garbage based on peoples skin colour and not there obvious talents.

leave aside the talents or lack of amir khan...it is the inherent racial undertones that make me angry.

since his medal at the olympics, i have found him to be a nice, respectful, polite young man...in an industry where arrogance,rudeness,disrespect and hyperbole are prevelant in abundance...reading the comments...makes you wonder its amir we are talking about or charles manson.

as for the performance, it was average, khan has a long way to go beforfe being considered great...the jury is still out....does he deserve vitriol...no

Apart from one stupid remark, who else has made a racist statement? What an idiotic generalisation. I'm a casual boxing fan, and personally, I dislike Khan. I always have. You know why? Because he's got a big mouth. He's always had one. Even when he wasn't a world-level fighter, he was shooting his mouth off, nothing but tabloid fodder. People don't like pricks, regardless of gender or ethnicity.

So climb off your ridiculous high horse, please.

As for the fight - well, Khan won. McCloskey has every right to be miffed though, he got screwed over by a stupid medic.

I agree with the majority of comments relating to Amir Khan's ability as a boxer, he is a in an out boxer with a lot of speed. The only setback is a weak chin, once any boxer has this handicap there is no such thing that can strengthen such a defect.
Muhammad Ali got caught on the chin and had his jaw broken in the second round in his first of the two fights with Ken Norton. That did not mean he had a defect of a weak jaw, he still went the distance to lose split decision.
Ali was something else as everyone knows. Frank Bruno had the same problem but still managed to carve out a career out of this game. I believe that Khan is vulnerable to getting hit square on the chin when he does face up to the likes of Bradley. I remember a quote from Sugar Ray Robinson, 'the worst amatuer can knockout the best professional if he connected on the right spot'. Sugar meant the the chin. Maybe Presscott was lucky, but certainly no amatuer.